Ahsoka and the Chronicles of Jem II
by Dmartens26
Summary: I was disappointed with the Ahsoka book, so this is my version. I have used some of the same characters and tried to develop them better, and i created my own characters as well. more action packed moments but still focus on Ahsoka and her new friends. After the Clone wars but before rebels. 16BBY, i hope you all enjoy Ahsoka's real adventure into the rebellion
1. Chapter 1

**Ahsoka: The Chronicles Of Jem II**

 **Chapter 1**

The Jedi are all but extinct. The Empire is now in its third year of its uprising. The galaxy felt dark and lost. The war itself had come to a halt, but not for the better. The few who survived order 66 would face a new challenge.

Ahsoka peeked through the leaves of a zyfat tree that she used to hide herself. She slowly lifted the leaves away from the hole she basically lived in. She crawled out of her hole and brushed herself off. She glanced around her to make sure the cost was clear to begin her daily routine of scouting for whatever she could find for food. She knew she could go into town to potentially smuggle some if she absolutely needed to. She remembered her old boyfriend Nyx Okami and the few things that he taught her despite the fact that she didn't agree with his methods, but this _would_ be to keep herself alive, she thought. She began heading in the direction of Sen Baron which was the closest town to her living hole checking her shoulder the for the first few steps. Then she stopped, she figured there would still be some imperial troops looking for a 20 year old Togruta in the area. From where she stood, she was close enough to hear the storm troopers harassing the towns people. It pained her to hear it as she could never ignore someone in need of help. She needed to do something but she felt powerless with the loss of her lightsabers. She looked up at the sky and thought about Anakin and Barriss and how that whole incident played out. She had thought about that almost everyday since she walked away from the order. She shook her head to get herself refocused on finding food. It had been almost two days since she had a good meal, she was already thin enough.

She walked up to the large body of water that was at the halfway point between the hole and Sen Baron. She bent down and cupped a handful of water and drank some. Then she splashed her face with the hope that it would put her mind at ease and give her a bit of a reality check. 'This is even worse than the living conditions on lever 1313.' She thought. Her energy was almost depleted. She stood up with her head held high and determined to get what she needed to get herself back in shape. The planet Minska didn't offer much for pay but the people who lived there weren't bound by much tax, at least for the moment. The Empire didn't have much say in matters on Minska since there was a different order of things here, the only problem with this order of law; it was weaker than the Empire and would be overruled sooner rather than later. Ahsoka pondered that for a moment and just wondered how long she would be able to keep herself hidden. She was still standing by the lake as she began to hear storm troopers getting closer to her. Her heart began beating faster. She could tell they were heading her way. Before she knew it they were right in front of her.

"There! Is that her?" One asked pointing in her direction. She didn't hear anyone answer, only a blaster shot in her direction. It missed her and she quickly turned the other direction to run back towards her hiding hole. A few more shots fired at her. They were on speeders but due to the amount of large trees in this area, they couldn't move too fast. Which was good because neither could Ahsoka. She ducked behind a tree and prepared herself for the worst. As a trooper was about to pass by her position she was able to use the force to push him off his speeder bike. She jumped onto it while it was in motion and was able to turn it to the other direction before it was able to slam into a tree. She was heading straight towards the other troopers and she began firing at them. She hit two of them but missed the third and fourth. She knew the terrain of this area well enough that she could drive a lot faster. She sped on past the remaining troopers who at this point were trying to get turned around to finish the chase. She dodged tree after tree; she took a glance behind her and didn't see any troopers at the time. She kept on driving and shortly they found her again, shooting at her left and right.

"Ha!" Ahsoka chuckled; "Just another typical day for Ahsoka Tano!" She stated to herself sarcastically. She slowed the bike down a little as to let the troopers catch up to her. She had a plan. This time her bike was going to smack into a tree.

The troopers were gaining on her and she slowed down even more. "Just a little closer fellas." She said to herself slowing the bike down even more. She saw a tree dead ahead and she was preparing to leap off of the bike. As she approached the tree the troopers started firing at her again. Then she jumped up off of the bike and grabbed a tree branch and swung herself into the tree and was sitting on the branch when she saw her bike crash with a fair explosion into another tree, all this happening as the troopers passed her bikes explosion. It sent them flying off of their bikes. One bike hit another tree but the other bike managed to come to a complete stop. The trooper was laying a few feet away and Ahsoka managed to hop on that bike and take off through the forest leaving both troopers behind her. "Great! Now they are blocking my way back home." She mentioned to herself. But at least now she could make it to town and hopefully there weren't any troopers still town.

She came out of the forest and onto the main road that lead right into Sen Baron. She pulled up behind a building as not to be detected. She walked into an ally way to scout for troopers. There weren't any but she saw her face stuck to every power station and pole in town. She knew that even though the Empire had little power in this system, she knew the people were smart enough to know what the Empire would pay for a wanted Togruta; or anyone really. She looked around the ally for anything she could use to disguise herself. She resorted to rolling around in a mud put in order to take most of the interest off of her. Her montrels still could give her away so she was extra careful to get them as disguised as she could. She walked out from the ally way which was in between a mechanic shop and a rough cantina that she dared not go in.

As she walked through town, she heard all sorts of unpleasant noises from the droids, ships and inhabitants doing whatever it is they did. She walked up to a stand that had some of the better food that there was to offer but she didn't have any money.

"Well!" Yelled a crusty voice from a native from inside the stand. "Ya gonna get any food or not!" The voice yelled again.

It startled her at first, then she walked up closer to the stand. "Oh, um, yes; I'll take two of these and three of these." Ahsoka said pointing at a few items on the menu list.

The native put the items on the counter and held out his hand for his money. Ahsoka froze. She was never getting past this guy. He was watching her with all that his one good eye could. Ahsoka looked up at him with a little bit of fear in her eyes.

"You don't have any money do you?" he said with anger in his voice.

Ahsoka shrugged, "Um…" pretty soon she was interrupted by a loud ship landing at a dock along the town square. Ahsoka looked behind her to make sure it wasn't more imperials, which it wasn't and so she ignored the ship for the time being.

"For goodness sake! What's it gonna take to keep those guys from coming back here?" the clerk asked in a low grumbly voice as he walked away from the front counter and went out the side door to confront the people on the ship that just landed.

Ahsoka quickly scooped up the rations and ran to hide behind a bank which was right next to the food stand. She immediately began eating what she had. It wasn't nearly enough to get her the energy she needed to escape more storm troopers, or even deal with the natives of the town. She could hear the clerk from the stand yelling at the guys on the ship.

"Hey! What did we tell ya would happen to ya if ya came back here?" The clerk yelled shaking his fist.

A guy about 24 years of age walked off the ship. "Ahh Mr. Chavo, its always good to see ya my friend. But last time I checked, you owed me for getting your old speeder out of that bog pit." The guy said as he gave a half grin smile and the clerk. "I'll tell ya what, you let me trade the game I caught and I'll forget that payment you owe me, deal?"

The clerk looked up at the man and turned around and went back to his stand. He didn't even bat his eye at the fact that Ahsoka had stolen the food.

It had been awhile since Ahsoka saw a human, aside from the storm troopers. And the thought of eating freshly caught game just made her more hungry. So she slowly approached the ship. She was not the first in line. A few Minskins beat her to it. She could hear the man speaking to the Minskins in front of her but she couldn't make out what he was saying. She knew this guy had to be a trader of some kind but she had nothing to trade. But she was desperate at this moment. She finally made her way to the front of the line.

"Well hello there!" The man said.

"I only have this one snare stick to trade." Ahsoka said as she held her last bit of food up to the man.

The man walked towards her a little more. "Is that so?" He said as he took the food out of Ahsoka's muddy hand. He looked it over a few times then spoke. "Now what would I want with a muddy snare stick?" He asked knowing she had nothing else.

Ahsoka looked down at the ground realizing the low she sunk to. "I haven't eaten in three days. If you were a decent person…" She stopped and realized what she was about to say. "Not there are any decent persons around Sen Baron." She remarked.

"Heh heh." He chuckled lightheartedly. "You got that right little lady." He agreed. "But still, say I wasn't a decent person, why would I give you my hard earned kills for a lousy snare stick?" He asked trying to get her to grovel to him.

She looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. "Buddy, you have no idea what I've been through do you." Ahsoka explained.

He put his hand gently on her cheek and looked at a power box next to his ship that had a picture of Ahsoka's face on it. "Oh, I can only imagine what you've been through." He stated as he wiped some of the mud off her face. "Togruta! You're the one they're after!" He declared quietly.

Ahsoka pushed him back into the ship and shushed him. She was hoping that with him out hunting, he might not know. "Please, don't make a big scene about it. I promise I'm not guilty of any crimes." She assured him.

"Oh please, I have no interest in collecting on a bounty. I'm a hunter." He stated but he wasn't looking at her.

Soon enough she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her. They held her so tight she could barely breath. And she certainly couldn't move her arms. The man stood to his feet. "Okay Borra, let her go, I don't think she's a threat to us. Or at least she better not be." He said looking at her intently.

Borra released her and she gasped for air. "What was that for?" She asked angrily.

"Sorry, sometimes he knows not what he does." The man said referring to Borra.

Borra was a species known as Grophi from the world of Kindoo. Borra was about 6' tall with pale white skin, bald head, red eyes, and muscles.

"Surely you've dealt with Graphis before eh miss?" said the man.

"I've never had the pleasure." Ahsoka said still coughing after Borra nearly crushed her.

"Heh, and you say you've been through a lot." The man said sarcastically. "Borra, seal up the ship and let's get back." The man demanded.

"Now, I don't know you and you don't know me." The man pulled a blaster on her but had no intention of shooting her. He sat down in a bolted down chair. "So, Togruta, let's talk. You want me to save your skin for a snare stick you better tell me just why the Empire is out looking for you."

"I never said I needed saving!" Ahsoka said with frustration.

Borra started lightly laughing.

"What's he laughing at? I'm serious!" Ahsoka stated.

The man got up out of the chair and walked over to her. "Hun, I can see your ribs and you were covered in mud, I have a hard time believing that you were living anywhere near the life of luxury."

Ahsoka sat quietly for a moment. The man was staring down at her and she sat on the floor. Then she finally muttered to herself, "I used to live a life of luxury."

"Well we all did before this Empire stuff started didn't we." He looked over to Borra.

"Can…I…. please have some food? I promise I will explain myself to you after I get some food." Ahsoka assured him. This was the first time she'd been vulnerable in years.

The man nodded to Borra. And then he went to fire up the engines. "Borra will fix you something." He said as he headed toward the cock pit.

Ahsoka got up and followed him. "Wait a minute! What exactly is your name?" She asked him.

He stopped and turned towards her. "It's Jem Baxel. Now please, go sit in there so I can keep an eye on you. I don't want to end up another murder story for this mysterious Togruta." He grinned and pointed back into the comfort quarters. And he fired up the ship and they began to take off.

Ahsoka was sitting at a table in the comfort quarters of the ship when Borra finally brought her some cooked game. She sat up and began eating. Soon after, Jem walked in and sat in the seat across from her. "So!" he said. "Let's hear that story." He demanded.

At first she was very hesitant. "You're not affiliated with the Empire are you?" she asked him trying to stall as long as she could. She wasn't sure how he would take her telling him about the whole Jedi thing.

"Trust me hun, I'm my own person and am completely opposite the Empire. Infact I'm in a small group of people who are working to fight back against them. Well, sort of, I hunt for this group." He was baffled that she was able to get him to tell her his story instead of her telling him hers. "Now Togruta, yours, let's here it!" Jem demanded.

"If you hunt for this group, why were you trading away your game to the people in Sen Baron?" Ahsoka asked.

"For money that our group needs for supplies." He stated brashly. "Come on now lady."

Ahsoka looked at her food. She had no idea how much the Empire would pay if he did decide to turn her in for being a Jedi. "I…I…I wa…" she took a deep breath. "I was a Jedi during the extent of the war." She couldn't believe she let it out.

"Yeah that's what I thought. You're nothing but a criminal. I ought to turn you in to the Empire for lying to us. I try to do a kind thing for you and you lie to me." Jem angrily stood to his feet and walked over to the table removing the food from the table and he started walking out to the disposal.

"Hey! I wasn't done with that!" She remarked.

"You are now." He fired back. He came back to the quarters. Borra we're dropping her off at the next system."

Ahsoka quickly piped up, "Wait! I'm serious! I really was a Jedi until…" She stopped and thought about Barriss; "Until a fellow padawan and my best friend framed me for bombing the temple." She said sadly.

Jem was beginning to believe her based on the look on her face. "Seriously? Where are your lightsabers? How did you survive the execute order? Can you use the force?" The amount of questions he could have had was endless but he stopped there.

She looked up at him with her eyes watery. She began to explain about what happened to her lightsabers and how she survived the order during the Siege of Mandalor. "To the rest of the universe, I didn't survive the execute order. I along with my clone captain faked our deaths. At least I hope his death is still faked, I haven't seen him since."

She flashed back as she told him the story about her and Rex on Mandalor.

"Commander, execute order 66!" Emperor Palpatine declared.

The clone commander that was assigned to Ahsoka and her captain Rex replied to Palpatine. "It will be done sir." With that, he alerted the rest of the clones that were assigned to Ahsoka and they all turned to face her and held their blasters on her.

"Sorry Miss Tano; you are now a trader to the Republic." One clone said.

Ahsoka was prepared to use the force as best as she could to block the fire since she still didn't have lightsabers. But Rex jumped in front of Ahsoka.

"Stand down soldier!" He demanded.

"Sorry sir. I have orders from the Emperor himself. If you won't comply, then you will also go with her."

"Look fellas, you can do whatever you want to me, but you won't dare touch her." Rex stated.

Ahsoka put her hand on Rex's shoulder. "Come on Rex, we have to get out of here." She warned. And they both turned to run the other direction. The other clones started firing on them both. Ahsoka hopped onto a speeder bike that was being used during the siege and picked Rex hopped on the back and they took off. The other clones also had speeder bikes and they did follow them. They were firing on them but missing them with every shot.

"Any ideas on how we are going to escape from them?" Rex asked.

Ahsoka looked from side to side while guiding the bike. "Umm, don't worry, Ive always got something in mind." She assured him. "I hope." She steered the bike and was heading for a thick tree line. "On the count of three!" She declared.

"On the count of three what?" Rex asked.

"You'll see!" She shouted. "Three…two…one." And she did a backflip off the bike and grabbed Rex and pulled him off of the bike. They both bounced and landed in the snow and rolled a few times. Then a few yards away, they saw the bike crash into a tree and explode. "Now, we make ourselves scarce." She said as they took off running.

They ran for several minutes, until the sound of laser fire from the other speeder bikes were no longer in ear shot. They both stopped to catch their breath.

"To the rest of the world, we are now dead." Rex told Ahsoka.

"As long as we don't get caught." She responded. "We must make our deaths look more official once we get off of Mandalor."

Then Ahsoka flashed back into the current time.

Jem sat back in his seat and was absolutely stunned. "Wow, that's a lot to take in. I hope your clone captain is still alive somewhere." Jem said with the most sincerity.

Ahsoka looked up at him with her eyes a little watery and managed to push out a smile towards him. "I like to believe he is still out there somewhere. I'm just not sure where to find him, or even where to begin looking."

Jem stood up and looked down at her and smiled at her. "That's a lot for someone your age to go through in such a short amount of time." He said to her as he began to walk out of the living quarters.

"Wait! How do you know about order 66?" Ahsoka asked Jem.

Jem turned around and sat back down. "Well, let's just say I was close to a young Jedi padawan not much older than you. She actually helped me acquire this vessel here. She unfortunately was killed by her master's clone troopers when the order was issued. My crew and I tried to keep them from killing her, it's actually how my brother, Corry, died as well." Jem told her. This was certainly a moment that the two shared and had in common. The Jedi meant something to both of them and they both lost the Jedi in painful ways.

The two of them sat in quiet for a moment, then Jem stood up and headed for the cockpit to talk to Borra who was flying the ship.

"We got ourselves a Jedi!" Jem mentioned to him with a bit of sympathy.

Borra just looked at him like he was crazy.

"Hey keep your eyes on the stars, you know our autopilot doesn't work anymore." Jem stated.

Shortly after their conversation two imperial star destroyers appeared right behind them. The ship shook as the star destroyers pulled out of light speed right above them. Ahsoka balanced herself.

"What could they want with us?" Jem asked Borra. And Borra just shrugged his shoulders. "It was a rhetorical question goofball."

Ahsoka burst into the cockpit; "It's the Empire!"

Jem turned to look at her. "Yeah, we're aware of that, we can't exactly let them know you're here." Jem stated.

"Well, how fast can this thing go?" Ahsoka asked.

"Not very. We'll have to hope they don't scan us, afterall this is not an imperial ship at all." Jem said. "Give me a second, I have to get our cannon assembled." Jem stated as he walked out of the cockpit.

"What! You're going to try and fight two star destroyers!" Ahsoka chimed in.

"Well we can't exactly cover you with mud and hope they don't recognize you." Jem said sarcastically.

Ahsoka looked around her at the filthiness of the ship. "Well actually;" she stopped, mocking the ship.

"Hey, don't go mocking this ship. This is a hunting vessel and besides, all of this mess over here, is all Borra's." Jem mentioned as he walked over to the underside compartment.

Ahsoka glared at Jem and rolled her eyes. "Sure." She hopped into the copilots seat and began giving Borra orders on how to maneuver around the star destroyers. "Nose dive!" she declared. As she gave order, Borra followed. Much to their surprise the destroyers started firing at the ship. They had no idea why the Empire would fire at a random hunting vessel. Ahsoka could sense the laser fire and was able to guide Borra side to side, up and down even the speed of the ship. Ahsoka instructed Borra to turn and face the imperial ships. "GO FOR IT!" She called as the large ships closed in on them. And Borra gave the ship all he could give it. And they quickly sped through in between the ships. "Borra! Can you activate light speed?"

Borra grunted at her to pull the stabilizer lever down but she couldn't understand his grunting. Ahsoka just looked around confused and then back at Borra and she shrugged her shoulders.

"What? I don't understand."

Borra grunted and pointed at the stabilizer lever and he was getting impatient.

Ahsoka realized what he was trying to tell her. "Ahh I see now. Got it buddy!" she pulled the lever and off they went into light speed.

Shortly after, Jem came into the cockpit with the canon parts that needed to be assembled. "I need a wrench Borra, where did you leave it last?" soon he stopped when he realized they were in light speed. He looked at Borra and the glanced at Ahsoka who was still sitting in the co pilot seat. "Hey now what's going on here? Borra, take us out of light speed!" Jem demanded. He glared at Ahsoka and his eyes indicated he wanted an explanation. But she said nothing. "So, we out ran them then?" Jem said affirming.

"Well, we're not dead or in the hands of the Empire so I'd say, yep, we're good for now." Ahsoka declared sarcastically.

"Borra, give us a minute." Jem suggested. Borra got up and left the controls in Jem's hands for the moment. Jem sat down in the pilot position next to Ahsoka and she got up to go back out to the quarters to finish her food. "Hey! That must have been some impressive flying for me to not notice. How did you do that?" Jem asked her.

As she was walking away she smiled and said; "Oh, I'm a better pilot then you I guess." And with that she exited the cockpit. Jem smiled and shook his head.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Meanwhile on the star destroyers:

"Admiral, we've lost the hunting vessel." Said an imperial officer.

"I can see that captain. I am displeased with this and the Emperor will not be so pleased either."

"I don't see why he's so determined to catch that refugee anyway. Why is she so significant?" the captain asked.

The admiral turned to face the captain. "He has reason to believe she's force sensitive; and quite strong with the force at that. He had a minor encounter with her when we were installing sectors on Minska. Thanks to your failures captain, I shall have to report to the Emperor and inform him. The admiral went into the communication deck to contact him. Soon a hologram of Emperor Palpatine appeared in front of the admiral.

"Admiral Ducken. I hope your report is much more satisfying this time." The Emperor informed him.

Admiral Ducken swallowed then spoke. "Well our intelligence unit informed us that she boarded a hunting vessel back on Minska. I had all reason to believe that was the vessel. But it took off into light speed and we have no leads as to where it's headed."

"I suggest starting with all of the big game hunting systems in the outer rim. Inform our intelligence unit to keep an eye out for that vessel. Once you've found it, let me know and I shall send one of my trainees out to capture her. Lord Vader must not know about this one Admiral."

"I understand my lord." The admiral bowed to the Emperor and signed off. "Captain, inform our intelligence to keep all eyes and ears out for a hunting vessel that should dock in the big game territories." And with that order, they put in the request.

"Don't worry Admiral, we sent a fighter after it. As long as it was able to keep up, we'll know exactly where it lands." Stated one of the captains.

Meanwhile on Malachor:

The Emperor walked down the corridor of the Sith temple. When he came up to one of the residing chambers, he opened the chamber door; there was a man in a cape sitting on the floor. "Arise Darth Zevann. I have an assignment for you." The Emperor demanded.

Darth Zevann stood up. His skin was as white as snow, his eyes were mostly yellow, he wore deep purple body armor, black pants and a long black cape. "Yes master. Is this the padawan?" He asked. He turned around to face the Emperor and followed him out of the chamber.

"Yes. I feel that Lord Vader must be relieved of this assignment. He will be too close for this one. We must eliminate her before he finds out that she's alive. And she must not find out that he is her former master either.

"How will I find her master?"

"Admiral Ducken's intelligence unit will be searching for a low quality hunting vessel from the days of the clone wars." The Emperor mentioned. "It can't be too hard to find."

"Am I to go out to Admiral Ducken's fleet?"

"Yes. And waste no more time. The balance of the force shall soon be in our hands." The Emperor said with an evil smile on his face.

"Shall I take my apprentice?"

"It's not necessary. Now go Darth Zevann."

And Darth Zevann left Malachor in his shuttle and headed to the coordinates where Admiral Ducken's fleet was residing.

As the shuttle came closer to the ship, the men onboard became a little afraid.

"Admiral, why is Darth Zevann coming here?" men were asking

"I don't know! I don't know!" He said as he was getting frustrated. Darth Zevann went up to the bridge and was approaching Admirla Ducken. "Darth Zevann, what a pleasure it is."

"Spare me the insincere greetings Admiral. I am here to make sure you don't screw this up again. Now send your cadets to fetch me something refreshing." He demanded as he sat down in the control chair.

"Yes sir." Admiral Ducken agreed with fear. Then he nodded to his captain.

"Admiral, there's a transmission coming through from the fighter we sent out." Called an officer.

Darth Zevann stood up and walked over to the receiver where this man was sitting. "Finally! This intelligence unit needs work Admiral."

"Calling from coordinates 32234x44559, it appears they are headed to the Doraff system." Said a trooper from the fighter.

"Which planet?" Admiral Ducken asked.

"Not quite sure Admiral. Shall I follow them?"

"No!" remarked Darth Zevann. "Allow me this time Admiral. This job needs to be done with discretion and you're too messy."

"Very well sir." Admiral Ducken confirmed, it was anything to get Darth Zevann off his bridge.

Jem walked into the comfort quarters where Ahsoka was resting. "So, I'm beginning to think that there's more to you than just being a Jedi although that's still kind of a big deal. Where did you learn to fly like that?" Jem asked

Ahsoka looked at him. "Well I was the padawan of the greatest pilot in the galaxy."

Jem walked over to the table and sat down and crossed his arms. "Really? Do you know if he's still alive?" Jem asked.

At first Ahsoka was a little upset that he even asked that since pretty much all of the Jedi were killed but she lightened up before she spoke. "I… I have no idea. I've tried to reach out to him in the force and couldn't find a connection."

Jem could tell she was a little stressed and upset. He got up and sat beside her and he was possibly going to put his arm around her. But she appeared to resist him at first. He put his hands up and backed away. "Okay, I'm sorry! I've got other things to do anyway, like making sure Borra doesn't fly us into a black hole or something." He pointed at the cockpit and walked away.

Ahsoka felt a little bad that she pushed Jem away the way she did. She thought about Barriss and how she hadn't had anyone to confide in and that is most likely what lead her down a dark path. Also, no one within the order ever reached out to Barriss, to listen to her complaints and answer her questions. Ahsoka got up from the table and headed to the cockpit.

She walked past the kitchen and saw Borra in there cleaning. When she walked into the cockpit, there was Jem at the controls. She slowly approached the copilot position and she sat down. "Look, I'm sorry Jem. I haven't really been able to put my trust in a lot of people lately." She stated.

Jem looked at her but didn't really say anything.

"So, he's your cook then?" Ahsoka asked trying to break the tension.

"Eh, more or less. Right now I got him doing dishes." Jem said jokingly.

Ahsoka smiled and him and he smiled at her. "Hey that looks good." Jem said.

Ahsoka looked confused; "what looks good?" She asked.

"That smile." Jem said. "That's the first time you've smiled at me ever since I met you." Jem stated although he still didn't know her name.

She smiled again and just rolled her eyes. She really didn't want to become attached to anyone at this point. She was trying to work through some of this though.

"Well, we're coming up on Doraff." Jem stated. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Oh, me? I'm A… Ahsoka Tano." She said cautiously.  
"Well Ahsoka Tano; you can relax a little, you're among friends now!" Jem implied. He got up out of his seat. "And if you don't mind landing the ship, I need to go have a word with the cook." He said grinning as he walked out of the cockpit.

Ahsoka flawlessly landed the ship on a landing pad. There was so much commotion going on around them; droids, people, speeders driving around and other machinery walking and drifting about the place. Ahsoka took a second to get herself prepared for what could possibly happen. Like so many times before, she put her hands to her hips as if to grab her lightsabers, but of course, they were gone and she hadn't formed new ones.

Jem popped his head in the cockpit door; "Hey, are you coming?" he asked.

Ahsoka shook her head to refocus. "Um… yes, I'll be right out." She answered. She saw three people making their way towards the ship, two darker skinned girls and a guy younger than Jem by several years. He had a little bit of a limp to him. She wondered who they were. At first she felt a little uncomfortable at the idea of meeting new people, but not so bad once she saw Jem run in their direction. He gave all three of them a hug which persuaded her to go down.

"Man, this was an interesting trip for sure! Come over here, you gotta meet someone!" Jem told them with excitement. All four of them rushed over to the ship where Ahsoka was coming off of. "AHSOKA!" Jem called running back in her direction with the three individuals following behind. "This is the rest of my crew, well, sort of. This is Nadoe, he's my cousin who was injured in a hunting accident two years ago."

Nadoe wacked Jem on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I can still hunt and am a much better shot than this guy here!" Nadoe said in reference to Jem. Then he put his arm around the smaller of the two girls. "This is Miara and her sister Kaeden." Nadoe stated finishing the introductions.

"I haven't seen a Togruta in such a long time!" Kaeden declared with excitement.

Ahsoka nodded and smiled at her.

"Well, you guys got back just in time. Ahsoka, you look like you could use a good full meal." Nadoe mentioned. "Follow us, the senator is hosting a feast for all of the intros in flight school. And Miara has just joined up herself." Nadoe stated looking down at Miara.

"You have no idea how good that sounds." Ahsoka mentioned. And with that, Nadoe, Miara, Borra, and Ahsoka headed towards the mess hall.

Jem was watching them as they walked off, primarily Ahsoka. He was fond of her.

Kaeden also stood there waiting for Jem to stop staring off into space. She gave him a light punch on the arm which alerted him.

"Ouch!" Jem yelled and looked at Kaeden. And she just stared at him with wide eyes. "What? I like her!" Jem stated.

"Yeah I can see why!" Kaeden chimed.

"Hey, back off Kaeden." Jem said with a smile and giving Kaeden a gentle shove as he began to follow the others who were a good distance ahead of them. Kaeden ran behind and lightly punched his arm again, then took off to catch up with the others. "Ouch!" He yelled intentionally loud enough for Kaeden to hear. He smiled and ran to catch up with them.

Nadoe led Ahsoka to Kaeden's room to settle into for the moment. "You can stay with Kaeden for now if that's alright." He stated.

"I suppose it's fine." Ahsoka said with a little concern. She didn't really have anything with her but she did leave her muddy cloak on the ship. And she didn't have anything clean to wear to this feast. And she wasn't sure how to feel about being surrounded by so many close nit people again. She had been on her own for about 4 years.

"Knock knock!" came a voice at the door.

"Um, come in?" Ahsoka questioned.

The door opened and it was Kaeden who was holding some sort of garment.

"It's Kaeden right?" Ahsoka asked.

"Yep! Kaeden Larte at your service!"

Ahsoka chuckled, "there's no need for that" She said politely.

Kaeden threw the garment on the bed and looked Ahsoka up and down. "You should get cleaned up for the feast. I have a shower in there." She mentioned pointing to a wash room. "And you can wear this to the feast. The senator told me to give it to you." Kaeden added.

Ahsoka looked a little confused. "The senator knows I'm here?"

"Jem told him and that you were covered in mud. What's that about anyway?" Kaeden questioned.

Ahsoka chuckled, "long story." She said as she grabbed the garment which was a long blue and white skirt and a white top attached. The skirt went all the way down to her feet, it wasn't exactly her style, but it was clean and that's all she cared about at that moment. She looked in a mirror and couldn't believe what she saw. She wasn't dirty, she didn't feel starved, she didn't feel quite as alone as she did just a few hours ago. She looked nice enough in the new clothes. She took a second to take a deep breath and began a meditation. She could feel less and less of her old Jedi comrades through the force. It really made her feel uneasy, but she decided to stay in the here and now. She knew there must be a purpose to her current situation, she just didn't know what it would lead to. She heard a knock on the door.

"Ahsoka? We should go on down." Kaeden stated from the other side of the door.

The two girls met up with Nadoe and Miara in the barracks hallway and headed down a large flight of stairs. The barracks were crawling with people most likely heading to the same place as they.

"You look nice Ahsoka!" Stated Miara.

Ahsoka nodded at her and smiled. "Thanks!" she added. "It's been a long time since I wore clean clothes." The three of them kept walking towards the mess hall where the feast was taking place. "So, who is this senator?"

Nadoe chimed in. "Oh he's not really a senator anymore, he was during the clone wars though. But he formed a bit of a rebellion against the Empire. That's what these barracks are for; this whole base even."

Ahsoka knew many senators in the clone wars and she began to ponder who it might be. None of them really seemed like the type to form any kind of rebellion against anything.

As they approached the mess hall doors, they could see Jem and Borra were there waiting for them. Jem ran over to greet them. "Took you long enough!" He said sarcastically to Nadoe. Then he looked at Ahsoka. "Wow! Don't you look nice!" he said kindly. "anyway, follow me, I have our seats saved."

Ahsoka blushed a little bit at the compliment.

"Oh, I need to go in another door for my class." Miara remembered. She took off running to join her flight classmates.

Ahsoka was a little impressed that this rebellion had an entire school just for learning to become a pilot. It was becoming clear that this was an organized rebellion. She heard of other rumors of rebellions forming but they all but fell apart before they began to do any real damage to the Empire. This was becoming a cause that Ahsoka could support. She was thinking that she might want to become involved but she couldn't bring herself to the idea of more explosions, more shooting, and more trauma. She hadn't even gotten over the clone wars yet. It began to frighten her a little bit. She was sitting next to Jem whom she definitely trusted, she wanted to ask him how she could become involved, but he was currently talking to Nadoe.

"Gosh, does he ever stop talking?" Ahsoka asked Borra who was sitting across from her.

Borra shrugged his shoulders. He could tell Ahsoka wanted to ask Jem something so he picked up a piece of bread and threw it at Jem to get his attention.

Jem turned his head towards Borra and gave him an annoyed look and mouthed 'what' but didn't speak.

Borra just pointed at Ahsoka.

Jem turned to her and said "oh, what?" he was a little confused and felt bad as if he was ignoring Ahsoka.

She began to speak; "How do I become….." She was stopped by a voice coming over a sounding droid.

"Thanks everyone for joining us. Tonight we will introduce our new pilot academy students." Said the voice.

Ahsoka looked up to the front of the room where there was a man standing on a platform. She recognized him immediately. It was Senator Bail Organa. A surprised and excited look came over Ahsoka's face. "Senator Organa!" she muttered to herself.

Jem turned towards Ahsoka. "You know him?" he asked her.

"I do!" She answered with excitement. "He was my friend's mentor. She was also a senator. One of the most respected senators of the time. No telling what happened to her." Ahsoka mentioned as she lowered her head in sadness.

Jem put his arm around Ahsoka to comfort her as he could tell she was upset. They sat and listened to Bail's introduction.

"We are so thrilled to see a new generation of young pilots come into this age of rebellion, if only this rebellion wasn't necessary in the first place. I have no doubt that these new pilots, along with our experienced pilots, we shall overthrow the Empire and bring an end to it!" Bail said this all with utmost confidence. "Now let's introduce the new students."

He introduced all of the new students including Miara. There were so many, and they were so young. A lot of them were younger than Ahsoka. In a way she felt bad for them because she knew that some wouldn't make it. This was a dark place that Ahsoka rarely visited in her mind. But there was a part of her that wanted to be as much help to them as possible.

After the feast, they were all heading back to the barracks. They each entered into their rooms. Jem turned to Ahsoka, and she to him. "I could mention that you're here. I had no idea you were involved in politics at all as Jedi." Jem mentioned to her.

"Oh, I really wasn't, at least not too much." She began to think of Lux Bonteri whom she hadn't seen since the battle of Onderon. "But, I'd really appreciate it!" She said with excitement.

"Alright meet me out here in the hall early at first light." Jem said as he smiled and turned to head towards his room.

Ahsoka smiled back at him and turned to go into Kaeden's room.

Kaeden was sitting up on the bed. "So…. who gets the bed?" she asked.

Ahsoka chuckled, "Oh I can take the floor. Let's just say I'm used to it." She began to make herself comfortable on the floor with blankets and pillows. She put on a night gown that Kaeden had lent her. "So, how do you know Jem?" She asked.

"Well, that's a long story. When my home planet of Raada was being invaded by the empire, Jem, Borra, and Nadoe took us with them. Jem is like a brother to us both. Ya know, that brother who constantly teases you but would never let anything bad happen to you." Kaeden said with a big smile on her face.

Ahsoka smiled. "Yes, I know the type." She thought back again to the clone wars, the first time she ever met her former master. It was more of a happy memory for her despite all that had happened.

"You like him don't you?" Kaeden asked Ahsoka with a suggestive look in her eyes.

"What! Not necessarily." She said defensively.

"MM HMM, sure." Kaeden reacted.

Ahsoka blushed a bit but Kaeden didn't see that. Ahsoka then laid down on the floor and tried to fall asleep. But she couldn't, all she could think about was getting to talk to Bail Organa for the first time in several years. She was excited yet nervous. She had so many questions. Perhaps she could get closure on somethings. But then she began to think about everything she had to do. If she was going to become more involved, then she would probably need new lightsabers, this could be her chance to form new ones. She stared up at the ceiling thinking about how she was going to get back to Illum. So much was going through her mind.

Darth Zevann landed on planet 4 in the Doraff system. This planet had a communication station that was used by the republic during the early days of the Clone wars. The rebellion had control of it for the time being. He drew his lightsaber which was a deeper red than most Sith sabers and it had a low pitch hum. He sliced through the door and rebel officers were alarmed. He force choked one of them while the another tried to run out a different door. Zevann through his lightsaber at him slashing him through the shoulder. He dropped the officer he chocked and caught his saber in his hands and slowly walked toward the last officer who was reaching for his blaster. The officer shot several times and Darth Zevann deflected each shot with his lightsaber. Then with three slashes, he took the officer out. He sat down at the control panel and began adjusting the satellites to look for a signal. He short circuited the waves so they weren't long range as he needed to scan the nearby planets in the system to see which planet Ahsoka was on. He got up and went outside the control station. He released 6 drones. One to each planet in the system except the one he was already on. He went back inside and sat down at the control center. "Alright my old Jedi comrade, I shall find you." He muttered to himself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The next morning at first light, Ahsoka was out in the hall waiting for Jem. She paced up and down the halls waiting for him. He wasn't late, she was just anxious. After a little time had passed she saw him walking in her direction. She stopped pacing and looked directly at him. "What took you so long? I've been waiting forever." She said to him.

He just glared at her. "What? I'm sorry, it's just now light out." He said smiling and pointing out a window. "Since you're in such a hurry, let's get a move on.

They walked across the base and other people were already on the move, ships were leaving the atmosphere to begin their missions, a few others were returning, and some were just out sitting and waiting for their orders. Ahsoka admired all of this as they walked around. She wondered how they could be put to use in the battle somewhere.

"How'd you sleep last night?" Jem asked her. "Kaeden didn't snore too loudly did she?" Jem asked sarcastically.

"Ha, no! and I guess I didn't get much sleep at all." She mentioned.

"Ahh, it's a lot to take in, I know. I Felt the same way when Bail asked me to hunt for the rebellion instead of what was left of the Republic."

"You hunted for the Republic? How come I never met you?" She asked him with much surprise in her voice.

"Well, it was sort of late in the war, it was just a year or so before the execute order was issued. I lost someone very important to me from that incident." He said sadly.

"Oh, I'm very sorry Jem." Ahsoka said with sympathy. "Was this person a Jedi?" She asked.

"Okay, so I lost two people special to me, I was originally referring to my brother Corry who was killed trying to save a close Jedi friend of ours who was actually killed because of the order." Jem said sadly.

Ahsoka put her hand on his shoulder to try to comfort him. "Yes, the execute order hurt so many other people beyond just the Jedi. I don't even remember how I reacted when I heard what was happening all across the galaxy. Then I had a set of troopers turn on me and my clone captain as well. But we were able to escape. But we faked our deaths to keep ourselves hidden." Ahsoka calmly added.

Jem looked at her and began to smile a little. "I'm glad you're still alive Ahsoka." He added as they approached a fancy nicely decorated building. "We're here!" Jem declared.

The guards let them both into the headquarters, and they walked down a few hall ways to find the senator's main office. But he actually came up from another hallway.

"Ahh Mr. Baxel, there you are. Here is your droid R11D returned to you safe and sound just as promised."

"Oh thank you sir for sending him to get a tune up. It's so appreciated." Jem said with excitement.

Bail noticed Ahsoka standing beside Jem. His eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped open. "Commander Tano?"

Ahsoka smiled and walked up to shake his hand. "Bail, it's so good to see you again alive and well."

"Feeling's mutual Commander!" he added as he gave her a little rub on the shoulder. "Come on into my office, there's a lot we need to catch up on I'm sure." He said as they both walked into his office leaving Jem outside to play with his droid.

"Okay, thanks again Bail." Jem said as the office door closed before he finished.

"So Commander, how did you happen to be in his company?" Bail asked referring to Jem.

"It's a long story sir." But she told him all about Minska and their short encounter with the empire while flying. She informed him of how she was getting close to Jem and that she trusted him and his crew. "But, how did you start this rebellion and have it be such a success? All of the other groups failed so quickly."

"Well, as it turns out, it really pays off to be a highly respected senator. There aren't many of us left and most of us are still in the fight but others have abandoned the cause and given in to the Empire. But I think you know well enough how persistent I always was to push bills and laws back in the day." He added.

Ahsoka nodded her head. She was reminded of Padme. She still didn't know what happened to her.

"So Commander, how would you feel about entering the fight again?" He asked her.

Ahsoka looked up at him. "Oh, I'm not really sure, I don't even know how I would engage in battle."

"Well I would assume you would use your lightsabers. You're the only force sensitive one in this part of the rebellion. At least to my knowledge anyway." Bail mentioned.

"Yes but I lost my lightsabers. I'll have to form new ones, which I can do it will just take some time."

While out in the hall waiting for Ahsoka and Bail's conversation to finish, the drone droid that was sent out by Darth Zevann whistled pasted Jem's head. It stopped just short of Bail's office door. Jem looked up at it wondering what it was. He knew it didn't look like anything the rebellion used for spying. He pulled out his blaster and shot it down. "What is that R11?"

The new generation astro droid rolled over to the mangold piece of machinery to observe it. R11 started beeping at Jem.

"Really, a type of imperial spy droid. That figures, I'll bet the Empire knows Ahsoka's here." Jem mentioned.

R11 beeped at Jem again.

"Well we'll have to protect her somehow."

R11 beeped at Jem and started rolling toward the front door to the headquarters and Jem followed him not knowing where he was going. But R11 wanted to show Jem that the imperial star destroyers had entered the system.

"Oh no!" Jem panicked a little bit.

But he and R11 weren't the only ones who noticed the star destroyers. Pilots were heading to their ships and fighters and taking off. One of these pilots was Miara. This was her first time in combat. She was ready and quite excited.

Nadoe, Borra, and Kaeden were all heading towards Jem and R11. "The Empire is here!" Nadoe stated pointing at the sky.

"Yeah I'm aware of that Nadoe."

"Senator, I need to ask you something." Ahsoka said.

"Of course Commander, anything." Bail affirmed.

"Padme?"

Bail hung his head and walked over to Ahsoka and put his hand on her shoulder. "Ahsoka, she didn't make it. She managed to have twin babies but she didn't make it through the child birth." He said sadly.

Ahsoka began to tear up.

"Ahsoka, there's something else you need to know about her death." He was interrupted when his guards burst into the room.

"Sir, imperial star ships have entered the system and they are sending tie fighters down. We must head back to Alderan." One exclaimed.

"Oh well then let's move! Ahsoka, we'll have to continue our talk some other time. If you need to get to Illum, you may use the Recluse, it's in the hanger area. Good luck and I hope to see you again soon." He said as he hurried out of the headquarters.

Ahsoka was a little wound up about what was happening. She ran out of the office to try to find Jem. But she didn't see him. But shortly he ran in with the others and grabbed her hand. "We gotta move!" He shouted as he dragged her out of headquarters.

There were now troopers on the grounds. Laser shots were flying all over the place. Grenades were going off in every direction. Jem and Nadoe pulled out their hunt blasters which had a little more of a kick to them than typical blasters after all they were used to kill big game. Borra charged after troopers taring some limb from limb. He was faster on all fours than he was on his two legs.

"Nadoe! We have to make our way to the ship." Jem shouted.

"Yeah that is if we still have a ship." Nadoe replied.

"Way to think positive bud." Jem responded.

"Guys, let's think of some sort of a plan!" Kaeden spoke up.

"Jem wait!" Ahsoka shrugged her hand away from Jem's. "There's something I have to do. I must do it alone." Ahsoka said with a bit of sadness in her voice.

Jem just looked at her with a bit of confusion. "What is it you have to do exactly? We need to get you outta here, that's what we need to do." He demanded.

"Jem, I need you to listen to me. I need to get to the hanger area to take the Recluse to Illum."

Jem was not okay with this plan. He wanted to get her off of the planet and out of harm's way. "Illum? What's on Illum?"

"Nothing, Jedi stuff. You have to trust me Jem." She stated.

Jem rolled his eyes. "Okay then let's go! Nadoe! Get Kaeden to the ship. I'll be back." Jem called out.

Nadoe nodded to him. "Come on Kaeden and get R11 too!" He demanded.

The crew made way for the ship dodging all sorts of cannon and laser fire. Nadoe was having a little bit of trouble due to his injured leg. He stopped for a moment to find Miara's ship in the air. He didn't see it anywhere; he began to get worried. "Kaeden!" He called. "Where's Miara?"

Kaeden stopped and looked around. "Um… I don't see her ship any…." She stopped when she saw a ship smoking a few yards away. She was also very worried about her sister. Nadoe noticed it almost at the exact same time. The two of them attempted to run over to the ship. Nadoe knew it was Miara's because of the ML logo she had painted on the side of her X wing that stood for Miara Larte.

Borra followed closely behind them.

"Borra, go to the ship with R11 and get it in the air. We may need a quick escape." Nadoe demanded.

"No Nadoe, we may need Borra to carry Miara back to the ship, or maybe he will need to carry you back to the ship." Kaeden mentioned.

They got to the smoking X wing as fast as they could. Kaeden and Borra got there first.

"Borra! Can you get inside? The door is jammed." Kaeden declared

Borra grabbed a ripped edge and pried it open. Miara lied there unconscious and her face covered in smoke and ash. Borra pulled her out and put her over his shoulder and they took off back to the ship.

Jem and Ahsoka trekked across the bloody battle field and partly demolished barracks in order to make their way to the hanger area.

"Hold up there you two." Said a trooper.

Jem and Ahsoka both stopped. Jem quickly spun around and blasted the trooper.

"Nice shooting!" Ahsoka stated.

"Well, keep in mind that I am a hunter. And no matter what Nadoe says, I'm one of the best shots in the rebellion, especially with a sniper." He said arrogantly.

Ahsoka gave him one of her glares. And they kept running.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Darth Zevann's shuttle landed off base a few yards. He managed to make his way into the battle area in search of Ahsoka. As he walked through the mayhem, he choked several rebels and then he drew his lightsaber and slashed several more. He walked up to an imperial officer who was sitting on a speeder.

"Any sign of her?" Darth Zevann asked.

"Oh, hello there sir. Yes, a trooper reported seeing her running to a hanger area with a local rebel. Most likely a hunter." The officer said.

Darth Zevann grinned showing off his yellow teeth. "Excellent! Tell your men that I want her alive."

"Will do my lord." The officer answered.

Jem and Ahsoka finally got to the hanger area. "Here is the Recluse." Jem stated putting his hand on a large silver vessel. "Are you sure you don't want to go with us? We will take you to Illum ya know." Jem mentioned to her.

Ahsoka kindly smiled at him. She put her hand gently on his cheek. "Jem, you know I must do this task on my own. I promise I will come back once I'm done." She affirmed.

He gave her a sad look and placed his hand on her hand. "I'm gonna hold you to that ya know!" He said sarcastically.

She smiled at him. "I know you will." She said in return as she removed her hand from his cheek.

Jem trying to keep himself together reached down to his belt and grabbed his communicator and handed it to her. "Here. This communicator will link to our ship. Should you need us on your mission, just give us a call." He stated to her.

She smiled at him once again and took the communicator and wrapped it around her wrist. "Thank you Jem; for everything you've done."

Jem leaned down and gave her a kiss on her cheek. She looked up at him and smiled once again. She returned the favor. And at that, the parted ways, even if it was only for a moment.

She fired up the engines of the Recluse and Jem watched her take off and out through the hanger doors she went.

Darth Zevann felt her presence on that ship and turned his head to follow as it passed through the air and into space. He turned to a trooper, "find the hunter she was with and take him to my layer on Hembri." He demanded as he turned to go back to his ship.

The imperial troopers were now looking for Jem. He walked out of the hanger area and there were several troopers standing around him.

"Is that him?" One asked.

"That's him. Get him!" another called out.

Jem drew his shot blaster and started firing. He made himself a pathway through troopers that he killed and started running. The rest of the troopers blocked him from escaping and they grabbed him by the arms. They threw a black cloth over his head.

"Now take him to the layer." One trooper declared as they marched off.

Borra laid Miara down on a caught inside the ship. Kaeden and Nadoe both rushed to her side. Nadoe put his hand gently on Miara's forehead.

"Nadoe, I need you to move so I can treat her wounds." Kaeden mentioned.

Nadoe backed away. "Will she be okay?" He asked.

"I don't know yet, I have to check her wounds." Kaeden answered. "Could you guys get the ship in the air? We have to at least get off this planet." Kaeden suggested.

Borra took off to the cockpit.

"Kaeden, we can't abandon our people here." Nadoe retorted. "Borra!" Nadoe shouted. "Take off but don't leave the atmosphere." He suggested to Borra who was out in the cockpit. Then he turned back to Kaeden. "I'll get the triple barreled cannon assembled and set up."

Kaeden nodded to him in agreement.

Nadoe began to put the cannon together when they heard a loud rumble from outside the ship. Nadoe limped to the cockpit and looked out the windshield. He and Borra both saw the Recluse leave the planet. "That must have been Ahsoka?" Nadoe questioned. "Jem should be returning soon; hopefully." Nadoe left the cockpit and went back to assembling the cannon.

Borra lifted the ship off the ground just to hover. R11 was also in the cockpit at the time and left the cockpit once the ship was in hover position. He went out to assist Nadoe with assembling the cannon.

R11 approached Nadoe in the hall. "Darn it! I can't get the trigger attached to the spring. See what you can do R11." Nadoe demanded.

R11 rolled into place to finish assembling the cannon. A few sparks flew as Nadoe just watched R11 do his thing. After a few minutes, R11 turned to face Nadoe and beeped with excitement. He had finished the assembly.

"Well then. That was fast, now we just have to attach it to the ship." R11 and Borra switched places because the cannon was too heavy for Nadoe to pick up so Borra had to take it to the gunner seat. Borra placed the cannon through the barrel port on the ship. Nadoe let out a hardy laugh. "Heh heh! Nice work Borra!" Nadoe announced as he hopped in the seat. He began firing at troopers and imperial speeders. The three barreled cannon shot three rapid blasts one after another. 'BOO BOO BOOM.'

As Ahsoka was leaving the atmosphere, she could hear the cannon fire from the hunting vessel. It was such a distinct sound that she rarely ever heard in the clone wars. She felt a little bad that she was leaving right in the middle of an intense battle, but she had something really important to do, like assembling new lightsabers. She had to do this if she was going to get involved in the fight again.

While R11 was guiding the ship around in hover mode, Nadoe was still firing the triple barreled cannon. 'Boo Boo Boom!' Borra made his way back to the cockpit. Kaeden as well just to see what was going on. She had done all she could for Miara at the moment and she just needed to rest. They looked outside and could see a large group of troopers holding onto someone with a black cloth over their face.

"Is that Jem?" Kaeden asked concerned.

Borra looked at her and started grunting in agreement. He left the cockpit and went down to the gunner area and started grunting at Nadoe.

Nadoe looked confused. "What? You know I can't understand you Borra!" Nadoe reminded him.

Kaeden used the intercom system that only worked for part of the ship. "Jem has been captured!" She said as she was worried.

Nadoe's eyes went wide. He responded to Kaeden. "Tell R11 to follow the next ship that takes off!"

The troopers got Jem to one of the shuttles and began to take off. Darth Zevann also began to take off in a similar shuttle at the time to follow Ahsoka.

R11 shortly after, took off and they followed the ship that was headed toward Hembri.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

As Ahsoka was heading towards Illum, she got the ship leveled out. The Recluse moved in such a touchy way that she wasn't used to from fighters in the clone wars. She stabilized the ship and took off into light speed. She sat down in the pilot seat and began to relax. This ship had an auto pilot feature without the necessity of a droid to activate it. She punched in the coordinates of Illum and laid her head back to catch a few winks. She drifted off into a memory of her first time finding her Kyber crystal. She was only 9 years old….

"Come younglings. Sacred are the caves of Illum to the Jedi." Master Yoda said to Ahsoka's class of 5. She was the only female in the class. "Now, enter the caves, and find your crystals you must. A Jedi's one true ally, the lightsaber is."

With that, 4 of the younglings entered the caves. But Ahsoka just stood there looking at the floor. Yoda walked down the icy steps to stand in front of her.

"Ready are you?" He asked.

Ahsoka looked up at him with a rather sad look on her face. "I just don't know if I'm strong enough. Ryo and Hentink think that it will be difficult for me. I'm the only girl in the class Master."

"Be not discouraged young Tano. Strong enough you are. A true asset is humbleness, but a weakness it can also be." Yoda pointed his cane in the direction of the door. "Now go you must and find your crystal you will."

Ahsoka became motivated to prove her classmates wrong. She entered the cave and immediately stopped and looked at the different directions she could take. She took a hard left tunnel and came to a big round room with tunnels on the far side. She began to hear music. The music was very melodic, long sounds and rhythmic. It brought a smile to her face. She opened her eyes and began to hallow in on the sounds and where they might be leading her. For a while it was easy, but then she could hear a voice intermixed in the musical sounds. It was the voice of her mother, whom she had lost at the age of 3 years, along with her father. They were killed by a bounty hunter prior to the wars. Ahsoka immediately stopped and gasped. Her eyes filled with tears at the thought of her lost parents despite the fact that she never knew them, but her classmates had their parents and some of them even lived with their parents still. Ahsoka was determined not to let the pain of her loss get the better of her here. One of her greatest fears was always losing those whom she loved and was close to. She held her head up and managed to hold back any more tears and continued following the sound of the music.

She continued down a narrow tunnel as the music and the voices of her mother and now her father were getting louder. She was beginning to tune the voices out but she heard her father's voice say "I love you". She kept moving now with more encouragement and motivation despite that the words made her eyes fill up with tears again, she pushed through the sadness and pain and came up to a dead end. The music suddenly stopped. The ice turned red but was still frozen and out of the wall appeared an image of her mother and father. They both walked over to her. She closed her eyes. "You're not real, you're not real." She told herself. But when she opened her eyes, they were still there walking towards her.

"We are as real as you make us." Said the vision of her mother.

"N…no you're not, you're only in my fears and memories!" Ahsoka shouted. She couldn't hold back any more tears.

The vision of her father walked over to her and tried to hug her, but he being only a vision, it wasn't possible. Ahsoka could still feel the warmth. The vision of her father looked down to her. "You know what you must do to acquire your crystal right?"

Ahsoka wiped away the tears and smiled and nodded her head once. Then she closed her eyes and raised her hands and force pushed both visions away, and they were gone. The ice turned back to a light blue and she could see where both visions collided with the wall, there was a shiny object. It was her crystal. She stood to her feet and ran and grabbed it….

As she was grabbing the crystal, Ahsoka awoke from her dream. She could feel a mild disturbance in the force. She backed the ship out of light speed. She turned on the radar to see if there were any other ships around her. And there didn't appear to be. For the time being, she was in the clear.

Darth Zevann's shuttle was approaching the Recluse. This shuttle was equipped with a cloaking mechanism that was once embraced by the Republic at one time. He pulled a lever down to activate it. The ship was now not visible for Ahsoka to see, nor the radar system to pick it up. He had to still keep a safe distance so Ahsoka wouldn't be alerted by his presence since he knew she would be able to feel him. One of Darth Zevann's greatest strengths was that he was patient. He knew he would have to wait Ahsoka out while she did whatever it was she was supposed to do. Soon he intercepted a transmission from Admiral Ducken.

My Lord. My captain has captured a hunter by the name of Jem Baxel. They are taking him to your layer on Hembri as we speak." Admiral Ducken mentioned.

"Very good Admiral. Keep him detained; I have something else to deal with at the moment, something that you couldn't take care of." Darth Zevann warned him. On that note, Admiral Ducken signed off as if he didn't hear what Darth Zevann had said. Darth Zevann was aggravated by that. "It's only a matter of time before I take him out." He assured himself as he was closing in on the Recluse.

Ahsoka was approaching Illum. She began the landing cycle which was a bit of a rough start due to the sharpness and the touchiness of the Recluse. It handled almost too perfectly. She was able to get the ship stabilized before it landed.

Before she got off the ship, she searched the ship for anything warm that she could put on. She found some heavy coats and a pair of boots that were really too large for her feet but she put them on anyway. She walked off of the ship and noticed that absolutely nothing had changed since her time visiting for herself, or for younglings that she supervised. She made her way toward the sacred glacier that seemed like a long walk away. Just like she had in the past, she stretched out her arm and used the force to open up the glacier for her to enter. She walked in and noticed that it also looked exactly the same. "Not much changes in the ice I guess." She muttered with a bit of a smile on her face. She turned the dial so the sun would melt the ice door just like she had seen Yoda do many times before. She entered the caves and just like she originally did so many years ago, she made an immediate left. But she began to hear the music just like she did years ago. She stopped in her tracks and closed her eyes. It was a different song this time. She just listened to the melodic sound of the music. She began to smile at the sound. She opened her eyes and began to follow the sound just like before. This was not the second time she had done this, she remembered another adventure to Illum to wield her second yellow/green lightsaber that she had become almost reliant on in her later years of the war. As she was following the music, she began to hear the voices, but she noticed something, the voices were different than the first time. She stopped to gain some clarity of whose voices they were. They felt much more recent, then it dawned on her. It was Plo Koon, Luminara, Mace Windu, and several other members of the Jedi order. She knew the voices she was hearing were of those who had fallen. She was relieved more that she didn't hear Anakin's voice in the mix. She kept her head up despite the voices of people whom she once called family.

The music and voices were leading her in a different direction than they had before. They led her to a cliff, but she could see the bottom. She looked around to see if there was an easier way down but of course there wasn't. she would have to jump and use the force to stop her from crashing into the ground. So she jumped and glided down to the bottom just like she had done so many times during the war. The music and the voices had stopped. She could see a tunnel a good distance away. But she was currently standing at the base of a frozen waterfall much higher than the cliff she just jumped off of. Out of the waterfall appeared a vision just like the one of her parents so many years ago. She couldn't tell exactly who it was at first because it was a good distance away from her. She squinted to get a more clear sight of the vision. She began to recognize the figure and she immediately dropped to the floor. It was a vision of her former master, Anakin Skywalker and he was walking towards her.

"Master!" She shouted in an almost crying voice. Her eyes were filled with tears as she saw him walking towards her. He looked angry at her but he didn't say anything. He stopped right in front of her and looked down at her just like the vision of her father had done so many years ago. Soon after, she saw more visions coming out from the waterfall. Mace Windu, Plo Koon, Master Tinn, Master Unduli and several others. They started walking towards her as well but stopped behind her master. They all looked at her with anger in their eyes. But no one said anything. She looked around at all of the familiar faces and noticing a few that weren't there. She was currently holding back tears and she wasn't able to say anything, but she felt more alone than ever. As if seeing all of them like this wasn't hard enough on her, one more vision appeared out of the waterfall. It was her old best friend and fellow padawan, Barriss Offee. Ahsoka stood to her feet and walked over to the vision. Seeing Barriss made her sad but she soon got over the sadness and reminder of the betrayal, her heart and mind filled with confidence. And just like she did many years ago, she lifted her hands and forced them all into the waterfall. The waterfall began to crack and it crumbled into pieces. She saw her first crystal mixed in with all of the broken ice.

Ahsoka sat down on the floor and opened her pack that she had brought with all of the lightsaber parts that she needed. She began to concentrate on forming her new lightsaber. She wasn't focused on finding the second crystal, just forming this new lightsaber. She had an image of what it would look like due to the fact that she wasn't a Jedi anymore but neither a Sith. Once the pieces were aligned by the force, they came together. She opened her eyes and picked up the lightsaber and engaged it. Just like she thought, it was a white blade. She was proud to be holding a lightsaber again, and this time a lightsaber that was completely her own. She waved it around a few times and then placed it in her pack.

She stood to her feet in preparation to find her second crystal. She must have walked through tunnel after tunnel. She didn't hear any music, no visions, and no stand out objects. The floor she was walking on suddenly dropped off without her knowing. She screamed and she slid down an icy slope down into the core of the caves. When she hit the bottom, she looked up and saw billions of crystals flashing at her. There was one crystal that stood out to her. She walked over to it and attempted to pick it up and it suddenly disappeared. Then the voice of Wilhuff Tarkin came into her mind, and a vision appeared.

"No no Commander Tano, you don't get another chance. You had your chance and now look at the galaxy." He said while looking at her. "You let your friends take the fall for you."

Ahsoka had gotten pretty good at tuning him out over the years, but this time, she began to feel like he was right. All these caves seemed to show her were her faults. She tried for the next brightest crystal, but it also disappeared.

Tarkin laughed. "I told you, you don't have what it takes to catch another crystal. You're lucky you even got the first one."

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes and tried to push Tarkin away like she had done the others, but he didn't move.

"I can't be pushed out like the others you abandoned. Think about the lives of the ones you left behind and not just the Jedi, make any new friends lately?" He questioned.

Ahsoka thought of Jem and the others that she left behind on Doraff.

"You have failed them as well. Why do you think you should get involved in another fight you will most likely run from?" Tarkin questioned again.

Ahsoka stopped trying to catch the crystals and closed her eyes in meditation. She began to focus her mind on how Tarkin was just a vision, she hadn't failed anything, she reassured herself.

"You know you will fail!" Tarkin's voice was getting louder even though she couldn't see him now, but she knew the vision was still there and it was pretty much right beside her. "You failed your master. Now he's lost." The voice piped in again.

Ahsoka was resisting these words, she knew they were wrong, she knew it was her fears getting the better of her but she wouldn't dare let it in again. As she once mentioned to her allies, if you make decisions out of fear, you're more likely to be wrong. Suddenly, Tarkin's harsh voice was gone. Ahsoka opened her eyes and the vision was gone as well. She looked around and saw a bright crystal flashing at her and she went to grab it, and this time, she was able to grab it. She now had what she needed and went to exit the cave.

She went through the entry way of the glacier and it sealed itself. She turned to face the direction of the Recluse. Off in the distance she could see a dark hooded figure. She couldn't make it out due to the windblown snow in her face. She only had wielded one new lightsaber so far and planned to form the other one on the way back to Doraff. She stood there staring at the hooded figure, waiting for it to make a move.

"Hello Lady Tano!" The voice of the figure she could hear crystal clear.

The haunting shrill of the voice sent chills running down her spine. "Who… who are you?" She asked.

But without answer, the figure engaged his lightsaber which had a deep reddish maroon color and a low pitch hum.

She knew this wasn't just some pirates after the Kyber crystals, this was something else that involved specifically her. She set her pack down and forced her newly wielded lightsaber into her hand and she engaged it. She had an advantage with it being a white blade.

The hooded figure darted towards her and struck at her but she blocked the strike.

She turned and darted toward the figure and struck at him. And he blocked her strike. Ahsoka then jumped and attacked. The figure dodged her and then struck at her again. this had turned into a full blown dual. They were back and forth with their shots and blocks. The figure then struck Ahsoka again and like usual she blocked it, but he wouldn't back off and she was holding him off. She forced him backwards and his hood went off exposing Darth Zevann's face. Ahsoka had never seen him before although she recognized the fighting style which was similar to that of the Jedi mixed with Sith.

He stood to his feet and let out a distasteful smile at her exposing his yellow teeth. "Well, I see you've constructed a new lightsaber little Tano." He said with a gruff laugh. He then lunged at her swinging his lightsaber in her direction and she blocked him. She jumped over him and attempted to slash him from behind but he jumped around to face her and deflected her strike. Ahsoka fought from as low to the ground as she could, just like she used to when she was younger. He swiped his lightsaber to the side and she managed to jump up and kick him in the face knocking him backwards. She ran, grabbed her pack and headed back towards her ship.

Darth Zevann stood to his feet and grabbed his lightsaber and yelled "I'm not finished with you yet Tano!" Then he started forcing parts of the glacier and throwing them at her. She was able to duck from most of them, but he forced a larger piece at her and hit her legs knocking her down. She rolled over and saw him walking towards her. He forced her up and threw her against the glacier and she dropped her lightsaber. He was still walking towards her, she quickly gasped for air and forced her lightsaber to her side. She saw him raise his hand again and before he could apply the force she used the force to push him backwards.

She jumped to her feet and grabbed her pack again and headed back in the direction of her ship. She looked behind her and could see that Darth Zevann was already to his feet and sprinting after her. She stopped and forced him up in the air and pushed him against the glacier. He didn't appear to move. And she made herself scarce.

Once she got to the Recluse, she looked around to see if he was in sight, and she didn't see him. Once she caught her breath she fired up the engines and set the course for Doraff with the intent of helping her new friends. She set the ships auto pilot and sat on the floor of the ship and wielded her second lightsaber.

Darth Zevann saw her ship take off. "I'm not finished with you young Tano! I'll have your head, just you wait!" He shouted even though she couldn't hear him. He headed back to his shuttle with the intent of following her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

R11 and Borra were flying the vessel and staying with in eye shot of the ship carrying Jem. Kaeden was still keeping an eye on her injured sister in the other room. The vessel was roomy enough for being primarily for hunting. Nadoe walked into the room with a tray of food in his hands. "Is she ready to eat yet?" He asked Kaeden.

Kaeden just looked at him, then back at Miara. "She's still unconscious Nadoe." She affirmed. "We just need to give her some time. I've treated the burns and scratches. She should be fine but she did hit her head hard on something."

"Well, I guess I just brought this Rygor meat in for you then." Nadoe said as he set the tray down on a table. Nadoe then turned to walk back into the cockpit.

Kaeden jumped up and followed him. "Any sign of that ship that took Jem?" She asked.

"R11 has been tracking it for some time now. It seems it might be heading toward Hembri." Nadoe said as he was looking at a holographic map of the nearby systems.

"I don't get how you guys read these maps." She said. "All the planets look the same."

Nadoe just looked at her with a bit of a disappointed look. He didn't really know how to explain it other than, "It's just an acquired skill. I've been navigating for this hunting party for quite some time now so I guess you could say, I have a knack for reading holographic maps."

During Kaeden and Nadoe's conversation, Miara began to turn and she started moaning. She was waking up. Kaeden immediately ran over to her side.

"Mia! Mia! It's me, Kaeden. We're safe now, we're on the hunting vessel." Kaeden tried to comfort her but it didn't stop Miara from startling herself awake.

"AHH!" Miara screamed and sat up as Nadoe limped quickly to her side next to Kaeden.

"Sweetheart it's me Nadoe. You're safe like Kaeden said." He assured her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, calm down."

As her breathing began to slow back down to normal, Nadoe put his hands around her head and pulled her close to his chest and began stroking her hair.

Borra heard all of the commotion and poked his head out of the cockpit door and started grunting.

"Don't worry Borra, we got it covered! Keep flying the ship." Nadoe demanded.

Borra shrugged his shoulders and went back into the cockpit.

Miara tried to lay back down, Nadoe did let go of her by that point. "What… what happened?" She asked.

"Well, we're not really sure, we just saw your ship crashed and smoking. You're lucky to be alive." Kaeden said reaching down to give her sister a hug.

"Borra pulled you out of the wreckage." Nadoe mentioned. Nadoe looked down at his feet in disappointment, "I would have done it, but…"

"I know you would have." Miara said. "I understand Nadoe."

"Ya know Nadoe, I could possibly see if there's anything I can do about that limp of yours. After all, it seems to keep you from hunting and it seems to be getting worse." Kaeden suggested.

Nadoe, who at times was more stubborn than Jem just said, "No, that's fine, it will heal on it's own." He said waving his hand at the offer.

"Oh come on Nadoe. She's a good healer and she's right, you haven't gone on a hunting mission in a couple of years." Miara stated.

"Well, you seem to be back to normal Miara." Nadoe said with a bit of a smile on his face. He was a bit agitated about what Miara said about the hunting missions that he had missed. He knew he had missed several since the evacuation of Raada. He limped out of the living quarters and back into the cockpit where R11 was. Borra had gone into the kitchen to cook something up for the group. Nadoe sat down in the copilot seat. "Any sign of the ship?"

R11 went through a series of beeps to inform Nadoe that they were still on target but they couldn't get too close or they might get caught. They had to sneak the landing if they were to pull off this rescue mission.

Jem still had the cloth over his face when he felt the ship land. He had no idea what was about to happen. Troopers grabbed his arms and forced him up and they walked off the ship with him and into Darth Zevann's layer. They threw Jem to the floor and pulled the cloth off his head. He looked around at the place. "Oh, this can't be good." He told himself.

"You get to just sit here until Darth Zevann arrives." A trooper told him.

"Great!" Jem said sarcastically. His hands were bound and he really couldn't do much else although the room was fairly good sized, it was also fairly dark. He was looking around for any kind of escape route. But he was unsuccessful. "And I'll just sit here." He said to himself.

Ahsoka was now safe in space and off of Illum, her new lightsabers were wielded and she was satisfied with her abilities and how she handled her encounter with Darth Zevann. She was still unaware of who he was and she began to ponder this. "He fought like a Jedi and a Sith." She said to herself. She was trying to put the pieces together but was coming up with nothing. She couldn't think of any Jedi that had turned to the darkside that were male and that were even still alive. She set the auto pilot, leaned back in the pilot's seat, and began to meditate.

Before she knew he was there, Darth Zevann's ship was gaining on the Recluse. Darth Zevann set his auto pilot and went down to the gunner's position. He loaded the cannon and prepared to fire on Ahsoka's ship.

Ahsoka immediately slipped out of her state of meditation when Darth Zevann caught up to her. She was alarmed and quickly reached and turned off the auto pilot. She grabbed ahold of the control levers and began to stabilize the ship. She began to get hit by laser fire from behind. She shut down the engines temporarily in order to let Darth Zevann fly past her. She drifted backwards and just like she planned, Darth Zevann's ship ended up in front of her. she started up the engines again and set the auto pilot. She needed to activate the gunner system that Bail had told her was automatic as long as it could lock onto the target which was sometimes problematic. She looked high and low for a lever or button that would activate it but she couldn't find it. She got up and left the cockpit and headed into the gunner cockpit. She sat in the seat and located the extra ammunition for the canon. While she was looking for a button to activate the gun, she felt the ship shake and heard a loud boom hitting the ship. Darth Zevann was firing on her again. With her eyes wide open and a little bit of worry in her heart, she ran back to the cockpit. She grabbed the controls and spun the ship around in order to locate Darth Zevann's shuttle. She swerved to the right and he was nowhere to be found. She then swerved back to the left and still, no shuttle. She began to feel laser fire coming from underneath her. "Darn it this guy!" She cried. She narrowed her eyes and swerved down and a little more to the left and sure enough, there was his shuttle and a glimpse of red laser blasts heading in her direction. "Where is that auto canon?" She asked herself still looking high and low for any button or label all while trying to keep a close eye on Zevann. She set the auto pilot again and ran back to the gunner cockpit and began manually using the gun. Of course she couldn't fly the ship and control the gun. Her ability to multitask wasn't quite that skilled. She saw Darth Zevann's ship fly over her and out of site from the gunner position. She ran back to the controls and began to fly the ship around again. She was swerving the ship in different directions and couldn't find Zevann. What she didn't realize is that he was using the cloaking mechanism on his shuttle. "What is this guy's deal?" Ahsoka asked herself while shifting her eyes to locate the shuttle. She soon felt the ship shake again only this time she heard a sizzle coming from a pipe near the far left hand side of the ship. She could smell smoke. "Great!" she said as she flew off as best as she could in order to try to lose the shuttle. He fired on her once again and the laser fire detached part of a flap. She knew she had to get the ship to the ground, she wasn't exactly sure what had been ruptured but it most likely wasn't going to end well if she tried to fly all the way back to Doraff. She flew for a while and looked at the ships holograph map of the planet systems nearby. Thebeska was a place that hadn't had much imperial occupation. She figured she could land there, and find a skilled mechanic to help her. She began to head down towards the planet. The radar on the ship no longer detected another ship near her. Darth Zevann had flown off as he had something else to attend to in order to lure Ahsoka to him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Ahsoka was able to land the ship successfully on a landing pad on Thebeska.

Thebeska was a dusty and quite windy place. It was a fairly small planet and had little interest to the Empire. Ahsoka figured it could be safe her for the time being although she figured that Darth Zevann knew exactly where she was. She was surprised that he didn't follow her down.

She walked off the ship but made sure to throw a long blanket around herself, to keep the dust off of her and to try to stay hidden. The planet was mostly inhabited by humans so she would definitely stand out. She walked a while to the nearest town which wasn't too far from her ships landing pad. She looked around and began to think. "If I were a mechanic, where would I be?" She quietly asked herself. On the corner she saw a cantina and slowly shook her head and walked in. She went up to the bar and put her arms up on the counter and leaned against it. "Excuse me good sir." She said to the bartender. "Where can I find a good mechanic in this town?" She asked.

The bartender just looked at her with squinty eyes. But Ahsoka just stared back at him. He eventually spoke up. "Well miss, just head up that road and you'll find the Fardi compound. Mr. Fardi can give you tools you need to fix it, unless you need him to fix it, then he charges you." The bartender said mocking Ahsoka and her small stature.

Ahsoka glared at him. "Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I can't make my own repairs." She snarked.

"Well then, that's the place." He said as he backed away from the counter.

"Thanks!" She replied. Ahsoka turned and walked out of the cantina and headed up the road.

Darth Zevann was getting closer to his layer on Hembri. He knew where Ahsoka had landed and he sent a transmission to Admiral Ducken.

"Yes Lord Zevann."

"Admiral Ducken, she has landed on the outer rim planet of Thabeska. I need you to send a battalion there immediately. And remember, I want her alive." He demanded then he signed off and continued on his way to the Hembri.

He landed on the top of a large building. Hembri was a dark planet. The skies were gray and almost smoky. Off in the distance, you could see orange in the sky from the sun, the rest of the sky was covered by smog. It was very hot as well and the ground was entirely black. He left the ship and walked over a large bridge into a castle. This was his secret hideout from the rest of the Sith occupation. He had his own set of guards standing at the front gate. The guards wore red robes and had gray helmets and masks covering their faces and they each carried a laser scythe. He stopped in front of the gate and nodded at both of the guards. And the guard on the right pulled a lever and the gate opened and Darth Zevann walked through and headed inside the castle. There were more sets of guards just like the guards outside the gates placed all about the castle. Darth Zevann walked up to one set standing by a large archway separating two different rooms of the castle. "Take me to the prisoner." Darth Zevann demanded.

The guards both nodded at each other. "Right this way sir." One guard said as he turned around and headed down a long dark corridor. They came up to a doorway and the guard typed in a code on a pad and the door opened.

Darth Zevann walked in, "wait out here." He demanded to the guard. Jem Baxel was sitting on the floor in the middle of the room and Darth Zevann walked up to him and pulled the gag out of his mouth. "Ahh, Jem Baxel is it?"

Jem didn't respond, just stared up at the dark hooded Darth Zevann and tried to catch his breath.

"I see!" Darth Zevann said without Jem's reply. "I know you will be quite useful to me Jem Baxel. You know what I need and you will help me get it."

"If I'm so useful to you, then you won't kill me." Jem mentioned.

"Well, that was a mistake." Darth Zevann said as he let out a horrid smile. He raised his hands and sent a powerful stroke of lighting that spit from his fingertips.

Jem let out a loud scream as he squirmed around on the floor.

"I may not kill you, at least not yet, but I most certainly can torture you. So I suggest you start talking." He demanded as he continued pacing around Jem. He knelt down close to Jem who was still laying on the floor squirming from the shock. "You are close to Miss Lady Tano are you not?"

"What exactly is it that you want me to say?" Jem asked. "You know who she is and I don't even know where she is, so I don't know what you want."

"Oh, I don't really need you to tell me anything I guess, I just wanted you to feel like you have some control of your fate. Ahsoka will come to rescue you, she can't not come for you. And I can just continue torturing you until she gets here." Darth Zevann stated with another horrid smile on his face.

Jem rolled his eyes and nodded his head. "Well, that sounds about right." He joked to himself although Darth Zevann wasn't pleased.

Darth Zevann stood up and began to walk out. "I'll let you be, for now." He said as he walked out of the chamber in which he ray shielded.

Jem slowly began to relax. He slowly sat up and began looking around the room. "This ought to be fun!" Jem sarcastically said to himself. He pondered the room he was in. 'This doesn't look like any imperial ship.' He thought. It was dark and musty and smelled a little smoky.

A guard opened the ray shield and brought Jem some food. The guard set the plate down in front of him and the guard walked out.

Jem tried to reach to grab some of the food but his hands were still bound behind his back. "A little help here!" He shouted, but no guards came in to help him out. So he laid on his stomach and attempted to eat the food. The food was definitely not anything he wished to eat again, it must have been quickly prepared and probably zap fried. He was used to Borra's cooking and eating meat from the animals they caught.

Jem was finished eating and he slid his plate out of the way and lied down to try to get some sleep.

Nadoe, who was now in the cockpit of the hunting vessel, was pointing out the cockpit window. "That's the landing strip. Set the ship down there Borra!" Nadoe exclaimed.

Borra was getting annoyed with Nadoe's nagging. He grunted at Nadoe in confirmation that he would set the ship down on the landing strip that he told him to.

"Borra, can you fly any faster? Who knows what Jem has gotten himself into." Nadoe started in again.

The ship wasn't able to go much faster and Borra was having trouble with the rough atmosphere keeping the ship stabilized. R11 wasn't much help either and he started beeping at Borra.

"He's telling you to let him take the controls Borra. Come on let him take over the ship, he will get it stable." Nadoe demanded as the ship was violently shaking while tools and containers were falling off of the shelves.

Borra stood up and grabbed Nadoe by the sleeve and forced him out the cockpit door, and Borra sat back down.

R11 beeped at Borra thanking him for throwing Nadoe out of the cockpit. Then he beeped at Borra again telling him to let him take over the ship.

Borra rolled his eyes and left the cockpit.

"Hey, Nadoe what's going on, I'm having trouble giving Miara the medicine she needs to soften her wounds." Kaeden stated when she ran into Nadoe in the hallway.

With an irritating look on his face he responded to her. "The boys got it handled Kaeden." And he walked past her into the comfort quarters where Miara was lying only now she was sitting up with her feet on the seat with her arms wrapped around her knees.

She was a tad bit frightened and began to flashback to her ship crashing back on Doraff. Nadoe could tell she was frightened and so he sat down beside her and put his arm around her.

"Don't lose your mind too much Nadoe, we need you to keep whats left of your sanity." Miara assured him.

Nadoe smiled at her and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. The ship began to stabilize and before they knew it, R11 had safely landed the ship. Nadoe and Miara both stood up and began to walk out of the ship. As Nadoe passed by Borra he sarcastically commented, "See buddy, land the ship just like that." He patted Borra on the arm and walked off the ship.

Borra grunted with a sad look on his face for he really wasn't a pilot. Jem was the main pilot of this ship and R11 did the rest.

"Okay, where do we go from here?" Kaeden asked.

"Couldn't even begin to guess." Nadoe added. His injured leg was really bothering him at this point in time and Miara could tell.

"Nadoe, you're not coming with us right now." She demanded.

"What? That's ridiculous, of course I am." Nadoe declared.

"No you're not! You need to stay off of that leg. Besides, we need someone to stay with the ship." Miara stated.

"She's right about that leg Nadoe." Kaeden weighed in.

"Look, that's my cousin that was taken captive by those storm troopers. I'm going weather I'm injured or not." He declared as he began limping in a direction.

Borra put his hand up and stopped Nadoe from walking any further. Borra grabbed Nadoe by the shoulders and turned him around and pointed towards the ship and let out a deep grunt.

Nadoe looked back at Borra with a bit of anger in his eyes. "Fine, have it your way." And Nadoe went back onto the ship.

The rest of the group started heading towards the orange part of the sky. It was their only mark at that point. They were using a mile marker that Miara had fashioned together to keep track of where they had already been. The terrain was getting extremely rocky and it was dark out for the most part.

"See, it's a good thing Nadoe didn't come with us after all. He'd most likely not make it past these rocks." Kaeden stated.

Miara had a small guilty look on her face. "I feel a little bad, he's always trying to do the right thing. Keep in mind, if it wasn't for Nadoe, we wouldn't be here Kaeden." Miara reminded her about how Nadoe convinced Jem to bring the them back to Doraff from Raada.

Kaeden could tell that her sister was in a bit of emotional pain from making Nadoe stay behind. She walked over to her sister and put her arm around her. "His leg is what's keeping him from going on journeys like this one. He could get his leg fixed but he won't let me. Keep in my that he can almost be more stubborn than Jem anyway." Kaeden mentioned with a joking smile on her face.

Miara looked up at her older sister and smiled. "Well, I guess that's true, he is definitely stubborn." She said with a laugh in her voice.

Borra was now a good distance away from the sisters. From where he stood, he could see a large dark castle off in the near distance. He started grunting for the two girls to hurry and come take a look at the castle.

The two sisters both looked up at Borra who was waving his arms in the air and grunting at them. "I guess he found something important." Kaeden mentioned with a laugh in her voice. The two girls ran to catch up with Borra and they all looked out over the canyon and they could see the castle.

"Umm, that looks friendly." Miara said sarcastically.

"We better contact Nadoe and R11 and let them know we found a castle. Maybe he can bring the ship in closer as long as he follows our coordinates. But we definitely need to check this place out." Kaeden added.

Borra pulled out his scope and took a closer look at the castle. He scanned the area and noticed the guards at the gate. And he started lightly grunting. He handed the scope to Kaeden.

She looked out and also noticed the guards standing there. "How are we going to get past them?" She asked.

Borra generally carried rapid fire power that was strapped to his back and he grunted at Kaeden and pointed at it.

"Oh, that should work!" Kaeden said with excitement. The three of them began to prepare a basic strategy. They knew that if they were going to get into the castle, they really needed to do it as quietly as possible. And that was pretty much their plan.

Ahsoka followed the coordinates that the man at the cantina gave her in order to find the Fardi clan. "It must be around here somewhere she said as she was walking over a steep hill. The wind was gusty out in this area and it was a fair distance away from town. She kept walking following the coordinates.

As she kept walking, she came upon a small homestead. There were a few human children playing outside. They were mostly light skinned with light colored hair.

"Kids! Come inside and get cleaned up for dinner." A female voice shouted.

The kids scurried inside the house. Ahsoka just stood there. "This must be the place." She said to herself with confidence. She walked closer to the house a bit cautiously as not to alarm the family, who were most likely not used to seeing Togrutas coming right up to their doorstep in the middle of the evening.

A young girl about age of 6 bounced out of the house and looked right at Ahsoka with a big smile on her face.

Ahsoka knelt down. "Well, hello there little one!" She said with excitement. "Are you a member of the Fardi household?" Ahsoka asked.

The little girl ran back up to the house and Ahsoka noticed that she didn't use her hands to open the door to the house. This puzzled Ahsoka. She began to ponder the possibilities of force sensitive children that had most likely been overlooked for centuries in the outer rim. Ahsoka stood to her feet and walked closer to the door. Before she could open the door, a man came bursting out and it startled Ahsoka. She backed away from the man who was looking at her with a serious look on his face.

"What are you doing on our property young lady?" He asked.

"Umm, I'm looking for a Mr. Fardi, I need some assistance in fixing my ship that crashed here." Ahsoka informed him.

"Oh. That is I." The man said with a shrill voice. "Right now, I am eating dinner with my family. You are more than welcome to join us if you want." Mr. Fardi insisted.

"Oh I couldn't…" Ahsoka was stopped when the young girl ran out and grabber her hand and tugged in the direction of the house.

"Come! Dinner!" The little girl kept tugging at Ahsoka's arm.

"Okay young one, I will join you." Ahsoka said with a smile on her face. Especially since she knew there was something unusually strong with this 6 year old girl.

The family sat down at a large table. There was Mr. Fardi and Mrs. Fardi and 5 children. They were all scurrying about the kitchen fixing their plates and getting cleaned up. Ahsoka was amused by the sight of it. She also admired the idea of family, which she felt that she was lacking at the moment. She hadn't felt like a part of a family since she left the order. Now in her mind, the order hardly felt like it ever should have been compared to a family. Ahsoka could see that Mr. and Mrs. Fardi would never exile their children or turn their backs on them. Ahsoka felt honored to be eating dinner with them.

"Hedala, why don't you pull up a chair for your friend." Mrs. Fardi stated to the young girl.

Hedala walked over to a lounge chair out in their living area and when she got within a few feet of the chair, it moved into Hedala's hands; and from there, she drug the chair into the dining area and offered it to Ahsoka.

Ahsoka was watching the entire time. She knew she had to get a feel for what this child could do and she was definitely intrigued by what she was seeing. Ahsoka placed her hand gently on Hedala's head. "Thank you little one." She said with a smile on her face. She removed her hand from Hedala's head and sat down.

Mrs. Fardi brought Ahsoka a plate of the food she had prepared. And together, they all ate and enjoyed each other's company.

Ahsoka loved the idea of family. Seeing it put in action like this was inspiring to her and it made her smile. She pondered what it would be like for her to have a family. She thought about how it could have been her and Lux, or her and Nyx. But then Jem popped in to her mind. She wondered what he was doing. She had a promise to keep to Jem. Ahsoka looked up at Mr. Fardi. "Sir, I don't mean to rush you, I was just wondering if you could look at my ship?"

"I'd be happy to look at it and fix it if I have what I need; but after dinner." Mr. Fardi stated rather harshly.

A few of the older children hopped out of their seats once they were finished and went back to playing outside. Mr. Fardi put on a tool belt and loaded it up with a few things. "Okay Togruta, let's go see your ship." He stated. "Hedala, why don't you come along." He insisted. He walked over to his wife and kissed her. "We shall return in a bit." He assured her; and out the door the three of them went.

The three of them made the hike back into town where Ahsoka's ship was set. Mr. Fardi started inspecting the outside of the ship. "Well, you have several busted thrusters and a blown fuel cell, your right wing is lucky to still be attached." He said sternly; then he went to the inside.

Ahsoka lifted a small rock using the force and brought it and laid it in front of Hedala. "Okay Hedala, can you move this rock without touching it?" Ahsoka asked quietly so her father wouldn't hear.

Hedala just looked at Ahsoka with confusion. Then she looked at the rock and pointed. "Move the rock?" She asked.

"Yes, can you move the rock without touching it?" She asked again. she was really curious to see what would happen.

Hedala reached down to pick up the rock but just like before, once she got close enough, the rock flew up into her hand. Ahsoka was amazed.

She knelt down and put her hand on Hedala's shoulder. "I can't take you away from your family Hedala, not right now anyway, I have some other important things to do."

Hedala had no idea what to think about what Ahsoka said. Hedala was used to having this power and had been dealing with it all of her life. Her parents just accepted it, neither of them really knew what to think about it either.

Ahsoka heard a loud roar up in the air; she looked up and could see the outline of an imperial star destroyer orbiting the planet. "Oh no!" she muttered to herself.

Imperial Tie fighters were flying down along with some drop ships. They were dropping troops a fair distance from the town but they were definitely headed in their direction.

Mr. Hedala walked off of the ship to talk to Ahsoka about how much it would cost for him to make the necessary repairs for her ship. "It looks like there are over 200 credits for the repairs young lady." He stated.

Ahsoka jumped over him. "Hold on!" She shouted to him. She drew her lightsabers and waited until she began to hear laser fire.

"What is going on here?" Mr. Fardi asked.

They could now see troopers and they were inside the town now shooting and causing chaos.

"It's an invasion! Come on Hedala!" Mr. Fardi yelled. Just as he ran in front of Hedala he was about to scoop her up in his arms and head back to their home, he was shot in the back by a blaster.

Ahsoka with a worried look on her face ran over to him. "Oh no, he's gone." She said with a trembling voice. "Come on!" She said to Hedala as they both ran back to the ship. Ahsoka got Hedala hidden in a secure place on the ship. "Don't leave this spot okay!"

Hedala nodded and Ahsoka sealed up the ship but just enough so she could fit through the opening to get back on board.

The troopers were now all around them. She used her lightsabers to deflect shots that were fired at her. She defended the ship almost flawlessly but a few shots had gotten through. Luckily this ship still had a fair amount of armor remaining. Ahsoka slashed through several troopers and used her lightsabers to knock out a few of the Tie fighters. She had no idea what she was going to do. The troops just kept coming at her and her ship was damaged. She couldn't let them get to Hedala though. As she killed a small wave of troopers that were around her, she recalled the new communicator that Jem had given her. She lifted her wrist to her mouth. "Calling the hunting vessel, calling the hunting vessel; this is Ahsoka trying to contact Jem Baxel. Jem, are you there?"

Nadoe answered the call. "Hello! This is Jem's hunting party, this is Nadoe!"

"Nadoe! I am on Thabeska the Empire has invaded and I'm in need of backup and a lift off this planet. Are you guys available?" Ahsoka responed. She could tell there was another wave of troops coming. The people in the town were using their small hand blasters to fight back as well so she wasn't entirely alone, but none of the towns people had any form of fighter training so most of the action was falling to her. Her main objective at this point was to keep Hedala safe.

"We are not currently available, I'm the only one on the ship right now Ahsoka, I'll see what I can do for you!" Nadoe replied. He signed off from Ahsoka and contacted Bail Organa's office.

An officer of Organa's signed on. "Yes vessel 9, how can we help you?"

"We are in need of a squad on Thabeska immediately. The Empire has invaded the planet."

"Okay can you send us the coordinates?" the officer asked.

From Ahsoka's call, Nadoe was able to snag the coordinates and transmitted them to the officer on the other side of the hologram.

"Alright, thank you hunting vessel 9. We will send a squad out there immediately." And the officer signed off.

Nadoe knew he had to do whatever he could to help Ahsoka as that's what Jem would want him to do. He needed to get in touch with Kaeden so he tried to contact her. "Kaeden! This is Nadoe, we need to get out to Thabeska, immediately! Kaeden, do you copy?"

Kaeden responded to Nadoe's call. "Nadoe? What's going on?" She asked.

"I'm not exactly sure! We just need to get to Thabeska to help Ahsoka." He stated hurriedly.

"But what about Jem?" Kaeden asked.

"Jem would want us to help Ahsoka." Nadoe responded.

"Okay, affirmative." Kaeden signed off and she caught up to Borra and Miara. "Hey guys! We have another assignment." She stated to them, and the three of them turned around to head back to the ship.

"R11, fire up the engines. We'll pick them up by following their crumb trail." Nadoe suggested.

R11 beeped in confirmation. R11 lifted the ship off the ground and began following the mile markers that Kaeden placed.

When Nadoe and R11D approached Kaeden and the others, Nadoe could see Kaeden and Miara both waving their arms in the air to flag them down. "I see you, I see you. I wouldn't leave without you, no matter how tempting that might be." He said sarcastically to himself. R11 lowered the ship to a low hover and opened the door and the three members of the group hopped back on the ship and they took off for Thabeska.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Darth Zevann entered back into the chamber where Jem was being held. "Hello Jem." He said with a smile that showed his teeth. "How are you feeling today?" He asked, taunting Jem.

Jem just glared at Darth Zevann with anger in his eyes.

"I'd be more hospitable if I were you. After all, I basically hold your pathetic little life in my hands." Darth Zevann mentioned. "Now, is there anything you'd like to say?"

Jem cleared his throat, "I could use something to drink." Jem stated.

"Really? Something to drink!" Zevann replied. "Before I put in that request, answer me a question would you?"

Jem just stared at Darth Zevann, prepared to give a half hearted answer if he had to.

"How long do you think it will take your precious half Jedi friend or whatever she is to come and rescue you? Or let me rephrase that, do you think she will come at all? Don't you think it was just a tad bit selfish for her to run off to wield new lightsabers only to let her love be captured and possibly killed at the hands of the Sith?" Darth Zevann was trying to get Jem to resent Ahsoka but it wasn't really working.

Jem just kept looking at Darth Zevann but now with a vengeful smile on his face. "She'll come for me, and she'll finish you off." Jem said with confidence.

"Oh will she? You seem to have a lot of trust in her considering the fact that you've only known her for three days. Trust me Mr. Baxel, I know the Jedi and they are not to be trusted. In fact, I used to be a Jedi apprentice myself, but now Darth Sidious has shown me who I really am, I've never felt so free." Darth Zevann explained.

Jem, trying to distract Darth Zevann asked a logical question. "You were a Jedi? How did this happen to you?"

"Don't try and get inside my head young man; my mind is made up and nothing will change that." Darth Zevann retorted.

"Well, it seems to me like you're not so free after all. The Emperor controls all of your actions basically, right?" Jem asked trying to fight back against Darth Zevann.

Darth Zevann walked up behind Jem and smacked him in the back of the head with the handle of his lightsaber. "The Jedi were weak, they let their emotions cloud everything but if there's one thing that the Jedi and the Sith agree on, it's that attachment makes you weaker. Ahsoka's attachment to you makes her weak, unless of course, she has no feelings for you which should make her stronger." Darth Zevann was still trying to turn Jem against Ahsoka and make him doubt her.

Jem tried to rub the back of his head even though his hands were still bound together. Jem was beginning to have less faith in his young lady friend, especially since she hadn't shown up yet. He tried to keep himself together for he still trusted Ahsoka. "Nah, she will most definitely come and finish you off." Jem retorted. He was risking a lot right now playing with Darth Zevann's ego the way he was.

"Well, we'll just see about that!" Darth Zevann muttered in an angry voice. He released the ray shield at the door and walked out, then reactivated the ray shield.

Jem knew he was getting to Darth Zevann and he smiled about it.

Back on Thabeska:

Ahsoka now had both lightsabers ignited and was in full force blocking shots that were being fired at her and the towns people. She was blocking the ship keeping Hedala protected from the imperial troops that would most likely kill her or take her away to the Emperor.

"Surrender Togruta!" Shouted a trooper who was holding his blaster up to her.

She had her back to him and she jumped into the air and did a backflip and landed behind him and slashed him through the chest. She jumped back up and deflected more blaster fire.

As she blocked shot after shot and killed several more troopers, she heard a low thud off in the distance. It was some of the imperial walking tanks that had been dropped from the star destroyers, and they were walking her way. She used the force to push back several troopers at once and continued blocking blaster shots from other troopers.

The tanks were getting closer to her and she could see them on the horizon. "This doesn't look good!" She said to herself. She could see that the tanks were shooting nearby villages as they were approaching her position. She had no choice at this point. She knew Hedala would be valuable due to her force sensitivity, and she couldn't leave her on that ship without any protection.

A few speeder bikes made their way into the town where Ahsoka was, they started firing at her and people in the town. She jumped out of the way for most of the shots and then she reignited her lightsabers again. She was satisfied with the crisp white blades, and as a speeder bike headed right towards her, she prepared for a leap. She was so focused on the speeder bike that she didn't realize that one of the large walking tanks was already a few yards away from town, the tank fired in her direction and the blast hit a few feet away from her sending sand and Ahsoka flying. She landed a few feet away from the ship and she noticed she had dropped one of her lightsabers. She looked around while she was still laying on the ground to for her lightsaber. She saw a trooper get off of his speeder bike bend down and pick it up. She immediately used the force to ignite the lightsaber, it engaged right into the troopers face and through his helmet. She quickly hopped up and ran to grab her lightsaber. The tank was now closer to her position. She had no idea how she could take it out, so she closed her eyes to grasp hold of a plan. Before she finished her strategizing, she heard a familiar sound coming from behind her. It was the sound of the triple barreled canon that she had heard as she left Doraff. 'It's Jem!' She thought. She was excited and felt confident that she would get some assistance now. Perhaps someone could get Hedala out of the Recluse before something really bad happened.

Nadoe kept firing the cannon at the tanks. He had taken some of the attention away from Ahsoka. "Kaeden! More rocket!" He shouted.

Kaeden was personally assisting Nadoe with the cannon while Borra and R11D were flying the ship. Miara called Kaeden on the intercom.

"Sis, I can fly the ship, we need to get help down to Ahsoka." She insisted.

Kaeden and Nadoe looked at each other, Nadoe nodded at her. "Go help them Kaeden. I can handle things down here!" Nadoe stated.

Kaeden left the gunner compartment and ran back into the comfort quarters where Miara was sitting. "What should we do?" She asked.

"You're good with a blaster and Borra can knock some heads together. Maybe if we set you both down, you guys can give Ahsoka some personal assistance." Miara suggested. "I will take the copilot position with R11."

Kaeden looked around, then put her hands on Miara's face. "Okay but you listen to me, don't do anything crazy with your flying, promise me?" Kaeden stated.

Miara nodded her head and smiled at her sister.

Kaeden pulled Miara close to her and then released her. "Okay little sis, do your thing."

Miara ran to the cockpit. "Borra! We are sending you down to help Ahsoka!" Miara stated excitedly. "I'm going to continue flying the ship."

R11 beeped at Miara with a bit of confusion, as if he was asking what his new job was.

"Well, I won't do it without you R11." Miara smiled and then took Borra's seat in copilot seat.

Borra just stood there for a minute not really knowing what he was supposed to do. He then grunted at Miara.

"Just go hang with Kaeden for now Borra. She will let you in on the plan." Miara mentioned.

Borra then walked out of the cockpit and joined Kaeden, who was loading her blaster.

"Here Borra, you will want to put this armor on I think." Kaeden mentioned pointing at a heavy duty piece of body armor in a closet.

Though Borra's skin was rather tough in comparison to a human's, he decided for extra caution he would put on the armor.

Both Kaeden and Borra were ready to be placed in the middle of the battle. "Okay sis, set us down!" Kaeden shouted.

Miara began to lower the ship while Nadoe continued to shoot at the oncoming large walking imperial tanks. She lowered the ship to a low hover and opened the ramp, and both Borra and Kaeden hopped off and joined Ahsoka who was still in full combat with her lightsabers.

Borra took off on all fours running at imperial troops head butting them and also eliminating them with his bare hands. Kaeden was shooting her blaster, killing many others as she ran to join Ahsoka's side.

"It's so great to see you Kaeden!" Ahsoka stated as she kept deflecting imperial blaster fire.

"It's good to see you too Ahsoka." Kaeden replied.

"I take it Jem is on the ship?" Ahsoka asked.

"Well, not exactly; we think he was taken by imperials. We have some things to discuss." Kaeden mentioned to Ahsoka.

Ahsoka panicked a little when she heard the news but she kept her head in the moment. She figured it was the Sith apprentice that she fought on Illum.

The hunting vessel was taking a lot of the attention of the walking tanks away from Ahsoka and Kaeden. Nadoe now had to reload the cannon by himself now that Kaeden was on the ground. He shoved the rockets in and prepared to fire at the tank again. The tank was smoking pretty heavily now. "Okay Miara, it should only take one more shot to bring this tank down." He said with confidence.

"Let em have it babe!" Miara shouted back to him through the intercom.

Nadoe pulled the trigger and the first three rockets fired. One rocket hit the main body of the tank causing a rather large new explosion. The tank stopped moving; the second rocket missed completely, but the third rocket hit the head. The tank rocked back and forth for a moment as Miara flew the ship out of the cloud of black smoke that puffed from the stalled walker. The tank then fell face first into the sand. Then a huge explosion sent metal and other debree everywhere, followed by a huge dust cloud which now covered the battlefield and was now playing havoc with Ahsoka's sight.

All her and Kaeden could see were the glow of imperial shots being fired at them but Ahsoka could still feel through the force where the troopers were. She jumped out of her fighting stance to catch them by surprise. She took out around 30 troopers without them even knowing she was anywhere near them. Ahsoka bounced back and looked around, she could barely see the Recluse sitting in front of her with all that dust still flying around. She couldn't see Kaeden anywhere. "Kaeden!" She yelled. She began to pace around the ship as now the firing had slowed down. "Borra!" she yelled and got no response. "Kaeden!" She yelled again. She stopped in her tracks and could see what appeared to be a body laying down in the sand. "Oh no!" She said to herself as she ran over to see if it was her. She knelt down and rolled the body over and sure enough, it was Kaeden.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Kaeden was gasping for air, she had inhaled too much dust and couldn't breathe. "Hang on Kaeden." Ahsoka said determined not to let her die. "Nadoe, Nadoe, this is Ahsoka. I need to get Kaeden on board the ship. Can you come down?" Ahsoka asked.

Only Nadoe was not the one who responded, it was Miara since she was in the pilot's seat. "Kaeden! What's wrong with her? Is she shot?" Miara kept asking questions until Ahsoka stopped her in the middle.

"She must have inhaled too much sand and we need to get her out of the dust storm." Ahsoka wasn't sure she could physically lift Kaeden although she wasn't much bigger than she. Ahsoka thought about trying to put Kaeden on what was left of the Recluse in with Hedala whom she realized she hadn't checked in on in quite some time. But before Ahsoka attempted to pick Kaeden up, Borra came and lunged towards them stopping with a bit of a slide right in front of the two girls.

Borra looked sadly at Kaeden who was still struggling to breathe. Borra picked up Kaeden like she was nothing and carried her in his arms and waited for Miara to land the ship. Borra was also having trouble seeing in all of the dust which was finally starting to settle.

Miara landed the ship several yards away from Borra and Kaeden's position. By the time Borra saw the ship, there were more tanks and troops entering the area. Borra wasn't nearly as fast on two legs as on all fours but he managed to run towards the ramp of the hunting vessel with Kaeden in his arms. He still managed to jump over some of the troopers that had gotten in his way.

Ahsoka jumped to grab the edge of the ramp of the Recluse that wasn't completely sealed and she slipped through. She ran down a hall and into the compartment where she'd hidden Hedala who was still in there and was now crying from all of the commotion from outside. Ahsoka picked her up and held her in her arms and tried to comfort the young frightened girl. "It's okay little one; I'm going to get you out of here, somehow." She said confidently. Ahsoka knew now that there was no way she was leaving on the Recluse, she grabbed a small pack and threw some of her accessories into it. She slung it around her shoulders and then picked up Hedala. She lowered the ramp and exited the Recluse. She noticed that there were more troops in the area again. "Ugh, great." She muttered. "This is going to be difficult." She muttered to Hedala although she didn't reply. Ahsoka was trying to gain consciousness of her surroundings and then she headed off in a dead sprint with young Hedala in her arms clung to her shoulders.

She was able to dodge laser fire for a while, but as more and more troopers entered the area, it was becoming more difficult for her to protect the exposed child and keep running at her pace. She moved Hedala to her left arm and pulled her right lightsaber into her hands and ignited it. She was much more skilled with her right than her left. She couldn't do any fancy flips or major jumps with Hedala clung to her neck. She deflected several laser blasts that were fired at her with her lightsaber from all sides, her right arm flailing back and forth, it almost seemed like it was flying around her body. Troopers didn't even see what was coming to them as she slashed them as she passed. She was beginning to catch up to Borra who was still carrying Kaeden and also running towards the hunting vessel. Ahsoka could see a large object through the dust that Borra was heading towards, it was not the hunting vessel. A large red laser blast shot straight at the ground.

The laser blast hit Borra almost directly. Borra was knocked way off his feet and sent Kaeden flying, although she was now closer to the vessel.

"Borra!" Ahsoka yelled becoming very concerned as she saw the blast hit Borra. She headed in their direction.

Miara ran out of the ship to retrieve Kaeden who was still conscious but barely. Miara was helping Kaeden to her feet as best as she could.

Ahsoka met up with Miara and Kaeden and set Hedala on the ground. "Get her to the ship as well. I'll take care of the tank." Ahsoka demanded. Just before she left the three girls, she ran over to where Borra was lying. She was feeling for a pulse and felt nothing. She put her montrels to his chest.

Miara and Kaeden just stared with fear in their hearts as they watched Ahsoka check Borra out. Miara's eyes filled with tears when Ahsoka finally lifted her head off of Borra's chest.

Ahsoka turned her head to face Miara and the others, with a sad expression on her face, she shook her head confirming that Borra was dead.

The two sisters grabbed ahold of each other and let the tears roll down their faces. They soon turned as Miara also grabbed Hedala's hand and walked both her and Kaeden back to the hunting vessel.

Once the girls got back onto the ship, Miara sat Kaeden down on the couch in the comfort quarters and gave her an oxygen mask. "R11, take off!" Miara shouted but with a rather sad voice. She continued to sit there with Kaeden for a moment just to make sure she had all she needed, after all, she wasn't the nurse, Kaeden was.

Ahsoka, who was still on the ground, jumped using the force onto the top of the closest walking tank. She admired the tank's armor and started using her lightsabers to slice through it. Her plan was to get inside the tank, and single handedly eliminate the soldiers inside until she had control of the tank, despite the fact that she had no idea how to operate a battle tank. She was getting a fair way through the metal when she heard smaller ships entering the atmosphere. She couldn't tell who's ships they were or even where they were coming from with a large amount of dust still hovering in the air. She soon saw the troopers that were still on the ground suddenly get blown away from blaster fire that was coming from these new ships. They were indeed, the rebellion, Bail Organa's rebellion with their X wings had finally joined the battle. Ahsoka let out a sigh of relief, the X wings started taking on the remaining walking tanks while she continued to do her damage to the one.

"She's on top of the tank. Get her off." Demanded Admiral Ducken who just happened to be commanding the walking tank.

His troopers just looked at him. "You get her off sir." They responded.

"That's an order gentlemen!" The Admiral demanded again.

"Umm, fine. Let's go men."

"I got a bad feeling about this." Another trooper said.

The Admiral spun his chair around to face the troopers. "Men! Get on top of this tank and eliminate her now." He demanded angrily.

The trooper ran down to the hatch that led to a staircase that lead to the top of the tank. They turned and opened another hatch and pulled themselves up to the top. They started firing on Ahsoka.

She jumped up and blocked herself with her lightsabers. She blocked shot after shot while staying right in the same place. She'd almost made a hole to get inside. "This isn't getting me anywhere." She said to herself as she threw her arms behind her and took off in a sprint in the direction of the troopers.

"Oh, great, here she comes. What do we do?" One trooper asked.

"Run!" a couple of troopers yelled at the same time. Before they knew it, Ahsoka had leaped into the air and landed right in front of them slashing three of them and throwing them off of the tank.

This was a full out battle now. There were now dark troopers with their dark armor and jet packs, and also heavy troopers with their missile launchers. There were now rebel soldiers on the ground now as well and with many different types of artillery. There were troops setting up automatic turrets, some also with missile launchers and others with standard blasters. Most of the dust had now settled but there were more and more explosions sending more dust flying into the air.

Ahsoka kept slashing at the troopers on top of the tank. She killed the last one and threw him off of the tank and noticed the hatch was opened. These hatches only opened from the inside of the tank. She was about to drop in when she heard a clanking noise coming from behind her. A dark trooper had flown up to take matters into his own hands. He had his shock ray with him and attempted to shock Ahsoka. She quickly engaged the lightsaber in her right hand and not only blocked the bolt of electricity that was emitting from the dark trooper's gun, but she deflected it back at the trooper covering him in the white bolt of electricity. The trooper fell to his knees and Ahsoka kicked him off the tank. Then she hopped down through the hatch.

She snuck around the inside of the large tank looking for the cockpit. She finally came up to a door with a window and she looked in and could see Admiral Ducken sitting at the control panel. She quietly opened the door. The Admiral didn't notice her since he was so focused on firing the cannons. "Looking for me Admiral?" Ahsoka said with an intimidating voice.

Admiral Ducken spun his chair around to face Ahsoka. "Ahh, look who finally made her way in. What was your next plan going to be, Jedi? I know you won't kill an unarmed man." Admiral Ducken stated.

She ignited her lightsabers and said, "you know Admiral, I'm not a Jedi anymore." She walked toward him trying to scare him with her lightsabers out.

The Admiral started to panic as he backed away and into the corner of the cockpit.

Ahsoka stood right in front of him with her blades out. Then she retracted them both. "Alright Admiral, I will spare your life on one condition and only, one condition." Ahsoka was beginning a negotiation.

The Admiral stuttered. "Www… what's that?" He asked.

"You and your forces retreat and leave this planet alone." Ahsoka demanded with her eyes looking angry.

"And what if I don't?" Admiral Ducken asked.

"Oh, I will have no problem finding you Admiral. And I won't spare your life. You may not have a personal blaster, but you have an entire army as your weapon." Ahsoka said as she began to back away from the Admiral.

"Very well then." He stated as he reached for his communicator. "All commanders retreat. I repeat, all commanders retreat."

"Very good Admiral." Ahsoka said as she left him there.

As she exited the tank, she could see that the retreat had already been issued. Imperial ships were leaving the atmosphere, and troops were heading back to the drop shuttles. The remaining walking tanks were beginning their turn around as well. Ahsoka looked up in the sky to spot the hunting vessel which she finally found. She turned her responder on and they picked up on it.

Miara landed the vessel, lowered the ramp and Ahsoka jumped on. She then flew up in the air and awaited the next order Ahsoka would have for her.

Ahsoka entered into the comfort quarters where she could see Kaeden with her mask on, and little Hedala who was still crying at the death of her father and the noisy war. Ahsoka had a very sad look on her face as she then saw Nadoe enter in from the gunner area.

He looked around and saw all of the sad faces. He was still pumped up from all of the action. "Well, that was the first time I've gotten to use that cannon. Jem normally doesn't let me." He stopped when he realized that the crew was upset by something and not just exhausted from the battle.

Ahsoka looked at him with a tear in her eye.

He looked back at her. "Borra?" Nadoe asked.

Ahsoka lowered her head. "He didn't make it." She said sadly.

Nadoe, as stubborn as he was tried to maintain his composure before he lowered his head and slumped down in a chair next to Kaeden. "Wow. I just don't even know what to say."

Ahsoka walked over to Nadoe and put her hand on his shoulder. "He fought bravely, after all, he did save Kaeden."

Nadoe looked up at Ahsoka, and then over to Kaeden and pushed out a smile.

Ahsoka then turned and headed towards the cockpit. "Miara, I need you to head to these coordinates, we have another little stop to make. There's a family I owe a visit to." Ahsoka told her.

"Got it Ahsoka." Miara said as her and R11 entered in the direction of the coordinates.

Kaeden's lungs were finally becoming clear, although she knew she had to keep the filter mask on her face until she was completely clear. She was absolutely exhausted.

Ahsoka walked back into the comfort quarters and put her arm around Kaeden. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

Kaeden was taking heavy deep breaths to answer her question. "Much…. Better…" she stated. "I can breathe a bit now." She added.

Ahsoka smiled at her and then got up to get a view of the dusty planet below them.

Hedala followed Ahsoka over to the viewing point.

Ahsoka felt her presents and knelt down to give little Hedala a hug. "I'm so sorry about your father Hedala." Ahsoka said with sadness. "I will make note of his bravery to Bail Organa. The risks he took to save me and his family.

"Okay Ahsoka, we are approaching the coordinates." Miara pointed out as she began the landing cycle.

As the ship approached closer to the homestead, Ahsoka could see Hedala's very worried mother standing outside the house holding one of the younger siblings. Ahsoka's heart sunk as she knew what she had to inform her of. But the only bright side was that her daughter was safe and sound. Ahsoka had made sure of that even if she couldn't save her father.

Miara lowered the ramp and Ahsoka held Hedala's hand as they both walked off the ship and headed towards Mrs. Fardi.

Mrs. Fardi ran over to them and grabbed her daughter and kissed her several times. "Oh Hedala! I was so worried." She said in a relieved yet still panicked voice. Then she stopped kissing her daughter and looked at Ahsoka. "Where is my husband?" She asked.

Ahsoka looked directly at Mrs. Fardi. "I'm sorry to inform you Mrs. Fardi, he didn't make it. The Empire attacked." Then Ahsoka hung her head. "It's all my fault." She said. "The Empire was after me when they attacked."

Mrs. Fardi went up and gave Ahsoka a hug. "You saved my little Hedala. For that, I am truly grateful." She said. Mrs. Fardi smiled at Ahsoka and Ahsoka smiled back at her.

"If there's anything you need, contact this comlink. I will have your back." Ahsoka informed the family. "I must go now, a very special friend is in need of me." Ahsoka said as she walked back to the vessel.

Once Ahsoka got back on the ship, Nadoe, Miara, and Kaeden were there waiting to hear her plan to rescue Jem.

"Alright guys, where are off to now? Any leads?" Ahsoka asked looking around at all of them.

Nadoe was the first to speak up. "We have reason to believe he's being held on Hembri." Nadoe stated as he handed the coordinates to Ahsoka.

Ahsoka didn't know much about Hembri other than it's minor affiliation with the Sith. "Okay, we will need to get a strategy in place if we are going to get him out undetected." Ahsoka said even though she was sure that it wouldn't go as smoothly as she wanted; nothing ever did. "Okay Miara, let's take off."

Miara and R11D lifted the ship off and they left Thabeska.


End file.
